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The  Pillars  of  Society 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 

GIFT  OF 

Kenneth  MacKenna 


"4!I°D  'uoi>(30is 

,    aaoNia  laiHdwva 


T  — 

Ibsen's  Plays 


THE 

Pillars  of  Society 

A  Play  in  Four  Acts 

Price  25  Cents 

WALTER  H.  BAKER  6  CO. 
BOSTON 


i  ^"'iM  A7flNS  ^^'■co  i»  Three  Acts.  Seven  males,  five  i  e.  .i^i 
<liC  AOlAlfUn;)    Costumes, modern;  scenery, not difflcu it,    .      | 

a  full  evening.  ' 

THE  rAPIWCT  MUtflCTPD  Farce  in  Four  Acts.  Ten  males,  nine 
int  UBlNtl   ffllPilM£K    f^^^i^g.  Costumes,  modern  society; 

scenery,  three  interiors.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

liANflY  DICR  ^^^^'•^  ^^  Three  Acts.  Se^en  males,  four  females. 
VAiWl  vlvn.  Qostumes,  modern ;  scenery,  t-wo  interiors.  Plays 
two  hours  iuid  a  half. 

THP  fiAY  inDD  flIIFY  Comedy  in  Four  Acts.  Four  males,  ten 
illC  UAl  LUnW  yiiCA    jg^^^i^g     costumes,  modem ;  scenery, 

two  interiors  and  an  exterior.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

HIS  KODSE  IN  ORDER  comedy  m  Four  Acts.  Nine  males,  four 
uiw  uvvk/M  »ii  vM\MfM4M^.  fgmales.  Costumes,  modern ;  scenery, 
three  interiors.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

THP  HARRY  HflRSF  comedy  in  Three  Acts.  Ten  males,  five 
lUli  UVUUl  UVaiJli  fgmales.  Cos'tumes,  modern;  scenery  easy. 
Plays  two  hours  and  a  half. 

mic    Drama  In  Five  Acts.    Seven  males,  seven  females.    Costumes, 
modern  ;  scenery,  three  interiors.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

I  AflY  RftllNTIFIIF     ^^^^  ***  ■^^"'^  Acts.    Eight  males,  seven  fe- 

U   VI  uw  ^  u    njaies.    Costumes,  modern ;  scenery,  four  in- 

t'  '     .?,  not  easy.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

;      Drama  in  Four  Acts  and  an  Epilaguo.    Ton  malos,  five  fe- 
aales.    Costumes,  modern ;  scenary  complieated.    Playaa 
ling 


Sent  prepaid  on  receipt  of  price  by 

l^alter  ^.  OBafeet  s,  Company 

No.  5  Hamilton  Place,  Boston,  Massachusetts 


Pillars  of  Society 


A  FLAY  IN  FOUR  ACTS 


By  HE:N^EIK  IBSEN 


TRAX.SLATKD   BV 

WILLIAM  ARCHER 


Copyright,  1890,  by  Joiix  W.  Lovkll  Co. 


BOSTON 

WALTER  H.  BAKER  &  CO. 


«l«?trito8k»«4^* 


CHABACTERS. 


Consul  Bernick. 
Mrs.  Bernick,  his  wife. 
Olaf,  tfieir  son,  a  boy  of  thirteen. 
Miss    Bernick    (Martha),    t?ie 

ConnuVn  sister. 
JOHAN  TiJNNESEN,  Mts.  Be^'iiicWs 

younger  brother. 
Miss  Hessel,  her  elder  step-sister 

(LONA). 

HilmarTonnesen,  Mrs.Bernick^s 

cousin. 
Rector  Rorlund.* 


RUMMEL,      ) 

ViGELAND,  V  Merchants. 

Sandstad,  ) 

DiNA  DoRF,  a  young  girl 

the  ConsuVs  house. 
Krap,  the  Co7isul''s  clerk. 
Shipbdilder  Adne, 
Mrs.  Rommel. 
Mrs.  Postmaster  Holt, 
Mrs.  Doctor  Lynge. 
Miss  Rummel. 
Miss  Holt. 


Toionspeople  and  others,  foreign  sailors,  steamboat  passengers,  etc. 

The  action  takes  place  in  Consul  BernicKs  house,  in  a  small  Norwegian 

coast-town. 

*  In  the  original,  ' '  Adjunkt "  or  Assistant-master.  The  word  "Rec- 
tor" is  used  in  the  Scotch  sense  of  a  schoolmaster,  not  in  the  English 
5ense  of  a  clergyman. 

[Translator's  Note. — The  title  of  the  original  is  ''Samfundeta 
Stotter,"  literally ''Society's  Pillars."  In  the  text  the  word  "Sam- 
fund"  has  sometimes  been  translated  "society,"  sometimes  ''  commu- 
nity." The  noun  "  Stotte,"  a  pUlar,  has  for  its  correlative  the  verb  "  ac 
stotte, "  to  support ;  so  that  the  English  phrase,  "to  support  society," 
represents  the  Norwegian  "at  stotte  Samfundet."  The  reader  may 
bear  in  mind,  then,  that  this  phrase  is,  in  the  original,  a  direct  allusioo 
to  the  title  of  the  play.] 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY: 

A  PLAY  IN  FOUR  ACTS. 


ACT  1. 

[A  large  garden-room  in  Consul  Bernick's  house.  In 
front,  to  the  left,  a  door  leads  into  the  ConsuVs 
office  ;  farther  back,  in  the  same  wall,  a  sim,ilar 
door.  In  the  middle  of  the  opposite  icall  is  a  large 
entrance  door.  The  wall  in  the  background  is 
almost  entirely  composed  of  plate-glass,  with  an 
open  door-way  leading  to  a  broad  flight  of  stejos, 
over  which  a  sun-shade  is  let  down.  Beyond  the 
steps  a  part  of  the  garden  can  be  seen,  shut  in  by  a 
trellisfence  xoith  a  little  gate.  On  the  other  side  of 
the  fence  is  a  street  consisting  of  small,  brighMy- 
painted  wooden  houses.  It  is  summer  and  the  sun 
shines  warmly.  N'ow  and  then  people  pass  along 
the  street :  they  stop  and  speak  to  each  other :  cus- 
tomers come  and  go  at  the  little  corner  sho}^,  and  so 
forth. 

In  the  garden-room  a  number  of  ladies  are  gath- 
ered round  a  table.  At  the  head  of  the  table  sits 
Mrs.  Bernick.  On  her  left  sit  Mrs.  Holt  and  her 
daughter ;    next  to  them,  Mrs.   and  Miss  Rummel. 


1014234 


4  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

On  Mrs.  Bernick's  Hght  sit  Mrs.  Ltnge,  Miss  Ber- 
NicK  (Martha),  and  Dina  Dorf.  All  the  ladies  are 
busy  sewing.  On  the  table  lie  large  /leaps  of  half- 
Jinished  and  cut-out  linen,  and  other  articles  of 
clothing.  Farther  back,  at  a  little  table  on  which  are 
two  floxcer-pots  and  a  glass  of  eau  sucre,  sits  Rec- 
tor Rorlund,  reading  from  a  hook  with  gilt  edges,  a 
toord  here  and  there  being  heard  by  the  audience. 
Out  in  the  garden  Olaf  Bernick  is  running  about, 
shooting  at  marks  with  a  cross-bow. 

Presently  Shipbuilder  Aune  enters  quietly  by  the 
door  on  the  right.  The  reading  is  stopped  for  a 
moment ;  Mrs.  Bernick  nods  to  him  and  points  to 
the  left-hand  door.  Aune  goes  quietly  to  the  Con- 
sul's door  and  knocks  o?ice  or  twice,  softly.  Krap, 
the  ConsuPs  clerk,  opens  the  door  and  comes  out 
with  his  hat  in  his  hand  and  papers  under  his  arm.'] 

Xrap.  Oh,  it's  you  that  were  knocking  ! 

Aune.  The  Consul  sent  for  me. 

ICrap.  Yes ;  but  he  can't  see  you  just  now ;  he  has 
commissioned  me 

Aune.  You  ?     I  would  much  rather 

Krap.  Commissioned  me  to  tell  you  this  :  You  must 
stop  these  Saturday  lectures  to  the  workmen. 

Aune.  Indeed?  I  thought  I  might  use  my  leisure 
time 

Krap.  You  must  not  use  your  leisure  time  to  make 
the  men  useless  in  work-time.  Last  Saturday  j'ou  must 
needs  talk  of  the  harm  our  new  machines  and  new 
method  of  work  will  cause  to  the  workmen.  Why  do 
you  do  so? 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  5 

AuNE.  I  do  it  to  support  society. 

Krap.  That's  a  strange  idea !  The  Consul  says  it's 
undermining  society. 

AuNE.  My  "society"  is  not  the  Consul's  "society," 
Mr.  Krap  !  As  foreman  of  the  Industrial  Society,  I  have 
to 

Krap.  Your  first  duty  is  as  foreman  of  Consul  Ber- 
nick's  shipyard.  Your  first  duty  is  to  the  society  called 
Bernick  &  Co.,  for  by  it  we  all  live. — Well,  now  you 
know  what  the  Consul  had  to  say  to  you. 

AuNE.  The  Consul  would  have  said  it  differently,  IVIr. 
Krap  !  But  I  know  well  enough  what  I  have  to  thank 
for  this.  It's  that  cursed  American  that's  put  in  for  re- 
pairs. These  people  think  work  can  be  done  here  as 
they  do  it  over  there,  and  that 

Krap.  Yes,  yes — I  have  no  time  to  go  into  generalities. 
You  now  know  the  Consul's  wishes,  and  that's  enough. 
Now  you'd  better  go  down  to  the  yard  again  ;  you're 
sure  to  be  wanted  ;  I  shall  be  down  myself  presently. — 
I  beg  your  pardon,  ladies !  {lie  hows,  and  goea  out 
through  the  garden  and  down  the  street.  Aune  goes 
quietly  out  to  the  right.  Rector  Rorltjnd,  who  during 
the  whole  of  the  foregoing  conversatio?i  has  continued 
reading,  prese^itly  closes  the  book  toith  a  bang.) 

RoRLUND.  There,  my  dear  ladies,  that  is  the  end. 

Mrs.  RuivrMEL.  Oh,  what  an  instructive  tale  ! 

Mrs.  Holt.  And  so  moral ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Such  a  book  really  gives  one  a  great 
deal  to  think  over. 

RoRLiTND.  Yes — it  forms  a  refreshing  contrast  to  what 
we  unhappily  see  every  day,  both  in  newspapers  and 
magazines.  The  gilded  and  rouged  outside,  flaunted  by 
9 


6  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

the  great  communities — what  does  it  really  conoeal? 
Hollowness  and  rottenness,  if  I  may  say  so.  They  have 
no  moral  foundation  under  their  feet.  In  one  one  word 
— they  are  whited  sepulchres,  these  great  communities, 
nowadays. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Too  true  !  too  true  ! 

Mrs.  Eummel.  We  have  only  to  look  at  the  crew  of  the 
American  ship  which  is  lying  here  just  now. 

RouLUND.  Oh,  I  won't  speak  of  such  scum  of  human- 
ity. But  even  in  the  higher  classes — how  do  matters 
stand  there?  Doubt  and  fermenting  restlessness  on 
every  side  ;  the  mind  unsettled,  and  insecurity  in  all  re- 
lations of  life.  See  how  the  family  is  undermined  over 
there  ! — how  a  brazen  spirit  of  destruction  is  attacking 
the  most  vital  truths  ! 

Dij^A  [without  looking  up).  But  are  not  many  great 
things  done  there  too? 

RoRLUND.  Great  things? — I  don't  understand. 

Mrs.  Holt  (astonished).  Good  heavens,  Dina ! 

Mrs.  Rummel  (at  the  same  time).  Oh,  Dina,  how  can 
you? 

RoKLUND.  I  don't  think  it  would  be  for  our  good  if 
such  "great  things "  became  common  among  us.  No 
— we  at  home  here  ought  to  thank  God  that  things  are 
as  they  are  with  us.  Of  course  a  tare  now  and  then 
springs  up  among  the  wheat,  alas  !  but  we  honestly  do 
our  best  to  weed  it  out.  What  we  have  to  do,  ladies,  is 
to  keep  society  pure — to  exclude  from  it  all  the  untried 
elements  which  an  impatient  age  would  force  upon  us. 

Mrs.  Holt.  And  of  these  there  are  more  than  enough, 
unhappily. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes,  last   year  we   only  escaped    by  a 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  7 

hair's-breadtb  having  a  railroad  carried  through  the 
town. 

Mrs.  Beenick.  Oh,  Karsten  managed  to  block  the  way. 

RoRLUND.  Providentially,  Mrs.  Bernick !  You  may  be 
sure  that  your  husband  was  a  tool  in  a  higher  hand  when 
he  refused  to  support  that  scheme. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  And  yet  the  papers  said  such  horrid 
things  about  him  !  But  we  are  quite  forgetting  to  thank 
you,  my  dear  Rector.  It  is  reall}'  more  than  kind  of  you 
to  sacrifice  so  much  of  your  time  to  us. 

RoRLUND.  Oh,  not  at  all ;  now,  in  the  holidays 

IVIrs.  Bernick.  Yes,  yes,  but  it  is  a  sacrifice  neverthe- 
less. 

RoRLUND  {draioing  his  chair  nearer).  Don't  speak  of  it, 
my  dear  lady.  Do  not  all  of  you  make  sacrifices  for  a 
good  cause  ?  And  do  you  not  make  them  willingly  and 
gladl}'  ?  The  Lapsed  and  Lost,  for  whom  we  are  work- 
ing, are  like  wounded  soldiers  on  a  battle-field  ;  you, 
ladies,  are  the  Red  Cross  Guild,  the  sisters  of  mercy, 
who  pick  lint  for  these  unhappy  sufferers,  tie  the  band- 
ages gently  round  the  wounds,  dress,  and  heal  them 

Mrs.  Bernick.  It  mast  be  a  blessing  to  be  able  to  see 
eveiything  in  such  a  beautiful  light. 

RoRLUND.  The  gift  is  largely  inborn  ;  but  it  can  also 
be  acquired.  The  great  point  is  to  see  things  in  the 
light  of  an  earnest  mission.  What  do  you  say.  Miss 
Bernick  ?  Do  you  not  find  that  you  have,  as  it  were, 
firmer  ground  under  your  feet  since  you  have  given  up 
your  life  to  your  school-work  ? 

Martha.  I  scarcely  know  wliat  to  say.  Often  when  I 
am  in  the  school-room  I  wish  I  were  far  out  upon  the 
stormy  sea. 


8  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

RoRLUND.  Yes,  yes,  that  is  temptation,  my  dear  Miss 
Beriiick.  You  must  bar  the  door  against  such  an  un- 
quiet guest.  The  stormy  sea — of  course  you  do  not 
mean  that  literally ;  you  mean  the  great  billowing 
world,  where  so  many  are  wrecked.  And  do  you  really 
think  so  much  of  the  life  you  hear  rushing  and  roaring 
outside?  Just  look  out  into  the  street.  There  people 
go  about  in  the  burning  sunshine,  toiling  and  moiling 
over  their  paltry  affairs.  Ours,  surely,  is  the  better 
part,  as  we  sit  in  the  cool  shadow,  and  turn  our  backs 
towai'd  the  quarter  from  which  distraction  comes. 

Maktha.  Yes,  I  suppose  you  are  quite  right 

RoRLUND.  And  in  a  house  like  this — in  a  good  and 
pure  home,  where  the  Family  is  seen  in  its  fairest  shape — 

where   peace  and  unity  reign {To  Mrs.  Bernick.) 

What  are  you  listening  to,  Mrs.  Bernick  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick  {%oho  has  turned  toward  the  door  of  the 
ConsuVs  room).  How  loud  they  are  speaking  in  there  ! 

RoRLXJND.  Is  there  anything  particular  going  on  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  I  don't  know.  I  can  hear  there  is  some 
one  with  my  husband. 

Htt.mar  Tonnesen,  with  a  cigar  in  his  mouth,  comes  in  by 
the  door  to  the  right,  but  stops  on  seeing  so  many 
ladies. 

HiLMAR.  Oh,  I  beg  pardon [Turning  to  go.) 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Come  in,  Hilmar,  come  in  ;   you  are 

not  disturbing  us.     Do  you  want  anything  ? 

Hilmar.  No,    I   only   looked   in    in   passing.      Good 

morning,  ladies.    (Tb  Mrs.  Bernick.)   Well,  what's  going 

to  come  of  it  ? 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  9 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Of  what  ? 

HiLMAK.  You  know  Bernick  has  called  a  cabinet 
council. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Indeed  !     "What  is  it  about? 

HiLMAR.  Oh,  it's  this  railway  nonsense  again. 

Mrs.  Kummel.  No  !     Is  it  possible  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Poor  Karsten,  is  he  to  have  aU  tha<-. 
worry  again 

RoRLUND.  Why,  what  can  be  the  meaning  of  this,  Mr, 
Tonnesen  ?  Consul  Bernick  made  it  plainly  under- 
stood last  year  that  he  would  have  no  railway  here, 

HiLMAR.  Yes,  I  thought  so  too  ;  but  I  met  Krap  just 
now,  and  he  told  me  that  the  railway  question  was  to  the 
fore  again,  and  that  Bernick  was  holding  a  conference 
with  three  of  our  capitalists. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  I  was  sure  I  heard  Rummel's  voice. 

HiLMAR.  Yes,  Mr.   Rummel  is  there,   of  course,   and 
Sandstad  and  Michael  Vigeland — "Holy  Michael,"  as 
they  call  him. 
■     RORLUND.    H'm 

HiLMAR.  I  beg  your  pardon.  Rector. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Just  when  everything  was  so  nice  and 
quiet  too ! 

HiLMAR.  Well  I,  for  my  part,  have  no  objection  to 
their  beginning  their  bickerings  again.  It's  a  variety  at 
least. 

RoRLUND.  I  think  we  could  get  on  without  that  sort 
of  variety. 

HiLMAR.  It  depends  upon  one's  constitution.  Some 
natures  ci-ave  for  a  Titanic  struggle  now  and  then.  But 
provincial  life,  worse  luck,  offers  little  in  that  way,  and 
it  is  not  evei'y  one  that  can {^Turning  over  the  leaves 


10  THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY. 

o/'Eohlund's  hook.)     Woman  as  the  Servant  of  Society— ^ 
what  sort  of  rubbish  is  this  ? 

Mrs.  Bebnick.  Oh,  Hihuar ;  you  mustn't  say  that 
You  have  surely  not  read  the  book. 

HiLivLVR.  No,  and  I  don't  intend  to. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  You  don't  seem  well  to-day. 

HiLM.\R.  No,  I  am  not. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Perhaps  you  didn't  sleep  well  last  night. 

HiLMAR.  No  ;  I  slept  very  badly.  I  took  a  walk  last 
evening  for  the  sake  of  my  health.  Then  I  went  to  the 
club,  and  read  an  account  of  a  polar  expedition.  There 
is  something  invigorating  in  following  men  in  their 
struggle  with  the  elements. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  But  it  does  not  seem  to  have  agreed 
with  you,  Mr.  Tonnesen  ? 

HiLMAR.  No,  it  didn't  agi'ee  with  me  at  all.  I  lay 
tossing  all  night  half-asleep,  and  dreamt  I  was  chased' 
by  a  horrible  walrus. 

Olaf  (comes  up  the  garden  steps).  Have  you  been 
chased  by  a  walrus,  Uncle  ? 

HiLMAR.  I  dreamt  it,  little  stupid !  But  do  you  still 
go  playing  with  that  ridiculous  bow?  Why  don't  you 
get  hold  of  a  proper  gun  ? 

Olai)\  I  should  like  to  very  much,  but 

HiLMAR.  There  would  be  some  sense  in  a  gun  ;  it 
braces  the  nerves. 

Olaf.  And  then  I  could  shoot  bears.  Uncle — but  father 
won't  give  me  leave. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  You  really  mustn't  put  such  ideas 
into  his  head,  Hilmar. 

HiLMAR.  H'm — that's  the  rising  generation  nowadays  ! 
Goodness  knows  there's  plenty  of  talk  about  pluck  and 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  11 

daring,  but,  it  all  ends  in  play  after  all ;  no  one  has  any 
faith  in  the  discipline  that  lies  in  looking  danger  man- 
fully in  the  face.  Don't  stand  and  point  at  me  with 
your  bow,  stupid  ;  it  might  go  off. 

Olaf.  No,  Uncle,  there's  no  bolt  in  it. 

HiLMAR.  How  do  you  know  ?  There  may  very  likely 
be  a  bolt  in  it.  Take  it  away,  I  tell  you.  I'd  like  to 
know  why  you've  never  gone  over  to  Amei'ica  in  one  of 
your  father's  ships?  There  you  could  see  a  buffalo-hunt 
or  a  fight  with  the  red-skins. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  But  Hilmar 

Olaf.  I  should  like  to,  vei*y  much.  Uncle  ;  and  then, 
perhaps,  I  might  meet  Uncle  Johan  and  Aunt  Lona. 

Hilmar.  H'm — don't  talk  nonsense. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Now  you  can  go  down  the  garden 
again,  Olaf. 

Olaf.  May  I  go  out  into  the  street  too,  mother  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Yes,  but  take  care  not  to  go  too  far. 
(Olaf  runs  out  through  the  garden  gate.) 

RoRLUND.  You  should  not  put  such  notions  into  the 
child's  head,  Mr.  Tonnesen. 

Hilj\l\r.  No,  of  course,  he's  to  be  a  mere  stick-iu-the 
mud,  like  so  many  others. 

EoRLUND.  But  why  don't  you  go  over  yourself  ? 

Hilmar.  I  ?  With  my  health  ?  Of  course  no  one  here 
makes  any  allowance  for  that.  But  besides — one  has 
certain  duties  toward  the  society  one  belongs  to.  There 
must  be  one  person  to  hold  high  the  banner  of  the  ideal. 
Ugh,  there  he's  shouting  again  ! 

The  Ladies.  "Who's  shouting? 

Hilmar.  Oh,  I  don't  know.  They're  rather  loud-voiced 
in  there,  and  it  makes  me  so  nervous. 


1  2  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  It  is  probably  my  husband,  Mr.  Tonne- 
aeii ;  but  you  must  remember  be  is  so  accustomed  to 
speak  to  great  assemblies. 

EoRLUND.  The  others  are  not  whispering  either,  it 
seems  to  me. 

HiLMAK.  No,  sure  enough,  when  it's  a  question  of  the 

pocket,  then ;  everything  here  ends  in  paltry  material 

calculations.     Ugh ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  At  least  that  is  better  than  formerly, 
when  everything  ended  in  dissipation. 

IVIrs.  Lynge.  Used  things  really  to  be  so  bad  here  ? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  They  were  indeed,  Mrs.  Lynge.  You 
may  think  jourself  lucky  that  you  didn't  live  here  then. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Yes,  there  has  certainly  been  a  great  change ! 
When  I  think  of  the  time  when  I  was  a  girl 

Mrs.  Rummel,  Oh,  only  think  of  fourteen  or  fifteen 
years  ago — Heaven  help  us,  what  a  life  it  was  !  There 
was  both  a  dancing  club  and  a  music  club 

Martha.  And  a  dramatic  club — I  remember  it  so  well. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes,  if/  was  there  your  play  was  acted, 
Mr.  Tonnesen. 

Hilmar  {in  the  background).  What,  what ? 

Rorlund.  Mr.  Tonnesen's  play  ? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes  ;  that  was  long  before  you  came 
here,  Rector.     Besides,  it  only  ran  one  night. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Was  it  not  in  that  play  that  you  told  me 
you  played  the  heroine,  Mrs.  Rummel? 

Mrs.  Rummel  [glancing  at  the  Rector).  I?  I  really  don't 
remember,  Mrs.  Lynge.  But  I  remember  too  well  all 
the  noisy  gaiety  that  went  on  among  families. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Yes,  I  actually  know  houses  where  two 
great  dinner  parties  were  given  in  one  week. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  13" 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Aud  then  there  was  a  company  of  stroll- 
ing actors,  I  have  heard. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes,  that  was  the  worst  of  all 

IVIrs.  Holt  [uneasily).  H'lu,  h'm 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Oh,  actors  did  you  say  ?  No,  I  remem- 
ber nothing  about  them. 

IVIrs.  Lynge.  Why,  I  was  told  that  these  people  played 
such  a  lot  of  pranks.     What  was  the  truth  of  the  matter? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Oh,  it  was  nothing  at  all,  Mrs.  Lynge. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Dina,  dear,  hand  me  that  piece  of  linen, 
please. 

Mrs.  Bernick  (at  the  same  time).  Dina,  my  love,  go  out 
and  ask  Katrina  to  bring  in  the  coffee. 

Martha.  I'll  go  with  you,  Dina.  (Dina  and  Martha 
go  out  by  the  farthest  back-door  on  the  left.) 

Mrs.  Bernick  (rising).  And  you  must  excuse  me  for  a 
moment,  ladies ;  I  think  we  had  better  take  our  cofiee 
outside.  (She  goes  down  the  garden-steps  and  begins  ar- 
ranging a  table  ;  Rorland  stands  in  the  doorway  talking  to 
her.     HiLMAR  sits  outside  smoking.) 

Mrs.  Rummel  (softly).  Oh,  dear,  Mrs.  Lynge,  how  you 
frightened  me. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  I? 

Mrs.  Holt.  Yes  ;  but  you  yourself  began  it,  Mrs. 
Rummel. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  I?  Oh,  how  can  you  say  so,  Mi-s.  Holt? 
Not  a  single  word  came  from  me. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  But  what  is  it  all  about. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  How  could  you  begin  to  talk  about 1 

Only  think — did  you  not  see  that  Dina  was  in  the  room  r 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Why,  bless  me !  is  there  anything  the 
matter  with ? 


14  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Mws.  Holt.  Here,  in  this  house,  too!  Do  you  not 
know,  then,  that  it  was  Mrs.  Bernick's  brother ? 

Mkh.  Lraoii.  What  about  him  ?  I  know  nothing  what- 
ever about  it,  I've  only  just  come 

Mrs,  Rummel.  Then  you  haven't  heard  that ?  H'm 

[To  her  daughter.)     You  can  go  down  the  garden 


for  a  little,  Hilda. 

Mrs.  Holt.  You  go  too,  Netta.  And  be  sure  you  be- 
have very  kindly  to  poor  Dina  when  she  comes.  (Miss 
Rummel  and  Miss  Holt  go  out  into  the  garden.) 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Well,  what  about  Mrs.  Bernick's  brother? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Don't  you  know  he  was  the  hero  of  the 
scandal  ? 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Mr.  Hilmar  the  hero  of  a  scandal ! 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Good  heavens,  no  !  Hilmar  is  her 
cousin,  Mrs.  Lynge.     I  am  talking  of  her  brother 

Mrs.  Holt.  The  Prodigal  Tonnesen 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Johau  was  his  name.  He  ran  away  to 
America. 

Mrs.  Holt,  Had  to  run  away,  you  understand. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Then  the  scandal  was  about  him  ? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes,  it  was  a  sort  of — what  shall  I  call 
it  ? — a  sort  of — with  Dina's  mother.  Oh,  I  remember  it 
as  if  it  were  yesterday.  Johan  Tonnesen  was  in  old  Mrs. 
Bernick's  office  :  Karsten  Bernick  had  just  come  home 
from  Paris — he  wasn't  engaged  yet 

Mrs,  Lynge.  Yes,  but  the  scandal ? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Well,  you  see,  that  winter  Moller's 
comedy  company  was  in  the  town. 

Mrs.  Holt.  And  in  the  company  was  Dorf,  the  actor, 
and  his  wife.     All  the  young  men  were  mad  about  her. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes — Heaven   knows    how  they  could 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  15 

think  lier  pretty.  But  one  evening  Dorf  came  home 
very  late 

Mrs.  Holt.  And  quite  unexpectedly. 

Mrs.  E.UMMEL.  And  there  he  found — no,  really  I'm 
ashamed  to  tell  you. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Why,  you  know,  Mrs,  Rummel,  he  found 
nothing,  for  the  door  was  locked  on  the  inside. 

Mrs.  Kummel.  Yes,  that's  what  I  say — he  found  the 
door  locked.  And  only  think  !  the  person  that  was  inside 
had  to  jump  out  at  the  window. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Right  from  the  attic  window. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  And  it  was  Mrs.  Bernick's  brother  ? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Of  course  it  was. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  And  that  was  why  he  ran  off  to  America? 

Mrs.  Holt.  He  had  to  run,  you  may  be  sure. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  For  afterward  something  else  was 
found  out,  that  was  almost  as  bad.  Only  think,  he  had 
been  playing  tricks  with  the  cash-box 

Mrs.  Holt.  But,  after  all,  no  one  knows  exactly  about 
that,  Mrs.  Rummel ;  perhaps  it  was  a  false  report. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  "Well,  I  really  must  say !     Was  it 

not  known  over  the  whole  town  ?  For  that  matter,  wasn't 
old  Mrs.  Bernick  almost  bankrupt  ?  Rummel  himself 
has  told  me  that.  But  Heaven  forbid  /  should  say  any- 
thing. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Well,  the  money  didn't  go  to  Madam 
Dorf  at  any  rate,  for  she 

Mrs.  Lynge.  "Yes,  what  became  of  Dina's  parents 
afterward  ? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Oh,  Dorf  deserted  both  his  wife  and 
'  his  child.  But  Madam  was  impudent  enough  to  re- 
main here  a  whole  year.     She  did  not  dare  to  show  her- 


10  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY, 

Kolf  in  the  theatre  again  ;  but  she  made  her  living  by 
Avasliing  and  sewing 

Mus.  Holt.  And  she  tried  to  set  up  a  dancing-school. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Of  course  it  wouldn't  do.  What  par- 
ents would  trust  their  children  with  such  a  person  as 
that?  But  it  didn't  last  long  ;  the  fine  Madam  wasn't 
accustomed  to  work,  you  see  ;  her  chest  became  affected, 
and  she  died, 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Well,  that's  really  a  horrible  story  ! 

INIiis.  RuMMEL.  Yes,  you  may  believe  it  has  been  a 
terrible  thing  for  the  Bernicks.  It  is  the  dark  spot  on 
the  sun  of  their  happiness,  as  Rummel  once  expressed 
it.  You  must  never  talk  of  these  things  in  ihis  house 
again,  Mrs.  Lynge. 

Mrs,  Holt.  And,  for  Heaven's  sake,  don't  mention  the 
step-sister  either. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Yes,  by  the  bye,  ]Mrs.  Bernick  has  a 
step-sister  too  ? 

]\Irs.  Rummel.  Used  to  have — fortunately  ;  for  now 
all  relationship  is  over  between  them.  Yes,  she  was  a 
strange  one !  Would  you  believe  it,  she  cut  her  hair 
short,  and  went  about  with  men's  shoes  on,  in  rainy 
weather. 

Mrs.  Holt.  And  when  her  step-brother — the  prodigal 
— had  run  away,  and  all  the  town  was,  of  course,  in  com- 
motion about  him — what  do  you  think  she  did  ?  Why, 
she  followed  him. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes,  but  think  of  the  scandal  she 
caused  before  she  left,  Mrs.  Holt ! 

Mrs.  Holt.  Hush,  don't  talk  about  it. 

j\Irs.  Lynge.  What,  was  there  a  scandal  about  her 
too? 


TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  17 

Mrs.  Kummel.  Yes  ;  I'll  tell  you  all  about  it,  Mrs. 
Lynge.  Bernick  had  just  become  engaged  to  Betty 
Tonnesen  ;  and  as  he  was  coming,  with  her  on  his  arm, 
into  her  aunt's  room  to  tell  her  of  the  engagement 

Mrs.  Holt.  The  TOnnesens  were  orphans,  you  under- 
stand. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Lona  Hessel  rose  from  her  chair, 

and  gave  the  handsome,  aristocratic  Karsten  Bernick  a 
ringing  box  on  the  ear  ! 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Well,  I  never ! 

Mrs.  Holt.  Yes,  everyone  knows  about  it. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  And  then  she  packed  her  box  and.  went 
off  to  America. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  She  must  have  been  making  eyes  at  him 
herself. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes,  that  was  just  it.  She  imagined 
that  he  was  going  to  propose  to  her  as  soon  as  he  came 
home  from  Paris. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Only  think,  how  could  she  dream  of  such 
a  thing  ! — Bernick,  a  polished  young  man  of  the  world 
— a  perfect  gentleman — the  darling  of  all  the  ladies 

Mrs.  Rummel.  And  so  proper,  besides,  Mrs.  Holt 

— so  moral. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Then,  what  has  become  of  this  Miss 
Hessel  in  America  ? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Well,  you  see,  over  that  there  rests,  as 
Rummel  once  expressed  it,  a  veil  which  should  scarcely 
be  lifted. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  What  does  that  mean? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  She  has  no  connection  with  the  family 
now,  of  course  ;  but  this  much  is  known  in  town,  that 
she  has  sung  for  money  in  taverns  over  there 


18  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY, 

Mrs.  Holt.  And  that  she  has  given  lectures 

Mrs.  Eummel.  And  that  she  has  written  an  insane 
book. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Is  it  possible ? 

Mrs.  Eummel.  Yes,  Lona  Hessel,  too,  is  certainly  a 
sun-spot  in  the  Beruick's  happiness.  But  now  you  know 
the  whole  story,  Mrs.  Lynge.  Heaven  knows,  I  have 
only  told  it  that  you  may  take  care  what  you  say. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  You  may  be  quite  easy  on  that  point. 
But  poor  Dina  Dorf  !     I  am  really  very  sorry  for  her ! 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Oh,  for  her  it  was  an  absolute  stroke 
of  luck.  Only  think,  if  she  had  remained  in  her  parents' 
hands !  Of  course  we  looked  after  her,  all  of  us,  and 
tried  to  instil  good  principles  into  her.  At  last  Miss 
Bernick  got  leave  for  her  to  come  and  live  here. 

Mrs.  Holt.  But  she  has  always  been  a  difficult  girl  to 
deal  with,  after  all  the  bad  examples  she  has  had,  you 
know.  Of  course  she  is  not  like  one  of  our  own — we 
have  to  make  the  best  of  her,  Mrs.  Lynge. 

Mrs.  Eummel.  Hush,  there  she  comes  !  {Loud.)  Yes, 
as  you  say,  Dina's  really  a  clever  girl.  What,  are  you 
there,  Dina?     We  are  just  finishing  our  work  here. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Ah,  how  nice  your  coffee  smells,  my  dear 
Dina Such  a  cup  of  coffefe  in  the  forenoon- 

Mrs.  Bernick  {standing  on  the  steps).  The  coffee  is 
ready,  ladies.  (Martha  and  Dina  have  meanivhile  helped 
the  servant  to  bring  in  the  coffee  things.  All  the  ladies  go 
out  and  sit  down  ;  each  talks  more  kindly  than  the  other  to 
Dina.  After  a  time  she  comes  into  the  room  and  looks  for 
her  sewing.) 

Mrs.  Bernick  {out  at  the  coffee-table).  Dina,  won't  you 
come  too  ? 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  19 

DmA.  No,  thanks  ;  I'd  rather  not.  [She  sits  down  to 
sew.  Mrs.  Beknick  and  Rorlund  exchange  a  few  loords  : 
a  moment  after,  he  comes  into  the  room.) 

Rorlund  (goes  up  to  the  table,  as  if  looking  for  some- 
thing, and  says,  in  a  low  voice).  Dina. 

DiNA.  Yes.  ' 

Rorlund.  Why  will  you  not  come  out  ? 

Dina.  When  I  came  in  with  the  coffee  I  could  see  by 
the  strange  lady's  looks  that  they  had  been  talking  about 
me. 

Rorlund.  And  did  you  not  see,  too,  how  friendly  she 
was  with  you  ? 

Dina.  But  that's  what  I  can't  bear, 

Rorlund.  You  have  a  headstrong  disposition,  Dina. 

Dina.  Yes. 

Rorlund.  But  why  is  it  so  ? 

Dina.  I  was  born  so. 

Rorlund.  But  could  you  not  try  to  change  it  ? 

Dina.  No. 

Rorlund.  Why  not  ? 

Dina  {looks  up  at  him).  Because  I  belong  to  the 
"Lapsed  and  Lost." 

Rorlund.  Fie,  Dina, 

Dina.  And  so  did  my  mother  before  me. 

Rorlund.  Who  has  spoken  to  you  of  such  things  ? 

Dina.  No  one  ;  they  never  speak.  Why  do  they 
not?     They  all   handle  me   as   carefully  as   though   I 

would  fall  to  pieces,  if Oh,   how   I   hate  all  this 

good-heartedness ! 

Rorlund.  My  dear  Dina,  I  understand  very  well  how 
you  feel  oppressed  here,  but 

Dina.  Oh,  if  I  could  only  get  far  away !     I  could  get 


20  TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

on  well  enough  by  myself,  if  only  the  people  I  lived 
among  weren't  so — so 

KoRLUND.  So  what? 

DiNA.  So  proper  and  moral. 

RoRLUND.  Now,  Dina,  you  don't  mean  that. 

DiNA.  Oh,  you  know  very  well  how  I  mean  it.  Every 
day  Hilda  and  Netta  come  here  that  I  may  take  example 
by  them.  I  can  never  be  as  well-behaved  as  they  are, 
and  I  wovit  be.  Oh  !  if  I  were  only  far  away,  I  too  could 
be  good. 

RoELUND.  You  are  good,  my  dear  Dina. 

Dina.  What  does  it  matter  here  ? 

RoRLDND.  Then  you  are  seriously  thinking  of  going 
away  ? 

Dina.  I  wouldn't  remain  here  a  day  longer  if  you  were 
not  here. 

RoRLUND.  Tell  me,  Dina,  why  do  you  like  so  much  to 
be  with  me  ? 

Dina.  Because  you  teach  me  so  much  that  is  beau- 
tiful. 

RoRLUND.  Beautiful !  Do  you  call  what  I  can  teach 
you  beautiful? 

Dina.  Yes  ;  or  rather — you  teach  me  nothing,  but 
when  I  hear  you  speak  it  makes  me  think  of  so  much 
that  is  beautiful. 

RoRLUND.  What  do  you  understand,  then,  by  a  beauti- 
ful thing  ? 

Dina.  I  have  never  thought  of  that. 

RoRLUND.  Then  think  of  it  now.  What  do  you  under- 
stand by  a  beautiful  thing  ? 

Dina.  A  beautiful  thing  is  something  great — and  far 
away. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  21 

RoRLUND.  H'm.     My  dear  Dina,  I  sympathize  with  you 
from  my  inmost  heart. 

DrNA.  Is  that  all  ? 

RoRLUND.  You  know  very  well  how  unspeakably  dear 
you  are  to  me. 

DiNA,  If  I  were  Hilda  or   Netta    you  would  not  be 
afraid  to  let  any  one  see  it. 

RoRLUND.  Oh,  Dina,  you  can  form  no  conception  of 

the  thousand  considerations When  a  man  is  placed 

as  a  moral  pillar  of  the  society  he  lives  in,  why — he  can- 
not be  too  careful.  If  I  were  only  sure  that  people  would 
interpret  my  motives  rightly  !  But  that  doesn't  matter  ; 
you  must  and  shall  be  helped  to  rise.  Dina,  shall  we 
make  an  agreement  that  when  I  come — when  circum- 
stances permit  me  to  come — and  say.  Here  is  my  hand — 
that  you  will  take  it  and  be  my  wife  ?  Do  you  promise 
me  that,  Dina  ? 

Dina.  Yes. 

RoRLUND.  Thanks !    thanks !      For    I    too Oh, 

Dina,  you  are  so  dear  to  me.  Hush  !  someone  is  com- 
ing. Dina,  for  my  sake — go  out  to  the  others.  {She 
goes  out  to  the  coffee-table.  At  the  same  moment  Rummel, 
Sandstad,  and  Vigeland  coine  out  from  the  Consul's  office, 
followed  by  Consul  Bernick,  ivho  has  a  bundle  of  papers  in 
his  hand.) 

Bernick.  Then  that  matter  is  settled  ? 

Vigeland.  Yes,  in  Heaven's  name,  so  let  it  be. 

Rummel.  It  is  settled  Bernick.     A  Norseman's  word 
stands  firm  as  the  Doverfjeld,  you  know. 

Bernick.  And  no  one  is  to  give  in  or  fall  away,  what- 
ever opposition  we  may  meet  with  ? 

Rummel.  We  stand  and  fall  together,  Bernick. 
10 


•2 2  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

HiLMAR  {coming  up  from  the  garden).  Excuse  me  ;  is 
it  not  the  railway  that  falls  ? 

Beiinick.  On  the  contrary',  it  is  to  go  ahead. 

KuMMEL.  Full  steam,  Mr.  Tonnesen. 

HiLMAR  [coming  forward).     Indeed  ! 

KoRLUND.     What  ? 

IVIrs.  Bernick  {at  the  door).  My  dear  Karsten,  what  is 
the  meaning ? 

Bernick.  Oh,  my  dear  Betty,  how  can  it  interest  you  ? 
{To  the  three  men.)  But  now  we  must  get  the  lists 
ready  ;  the  sooner  the  better.  Of  course  we  four  put 
our  names  down  first.  The  position  we  occupy  in  so- 
ciety makes  it  our  duty  to  do  as  much  as  we  can. 

Sandstad.  No  doubt,  Consul. 

Rummel.  We  ivill  make  it  go,  Bernick  ;  we're  bound  to. 

Bernick.  Oh,  yes ;  I  have  no  fear  as  to  the  result. 
We  must  work  hard,  each  in  his  own  circle,  and  if  we 
can  once  point  to  a  really  lively  interest  in  the  affair 
among  all  ranks  of  society,  it  follows  that  the  Town  must 
also  contribute  its  share. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Now,  Karsten,  you  must  really  come 
and  tell  us 

Bernick.  Oh,  my  dear  Betty,  ladies  don't  understand 
these  things. 

HrLMAR.  Then  you're  actually  going  to  back  up  the 
railway,  after  all  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  of  course. 

RoRLUND.  But  last  year.  Consul  ? 

Bernick.  Last  year  it  was  a  different  matter  altogether. 
Then  it  was  a  coast  line  that  was  proposed. 

ViGELAND. Which  would  have  been  entirely  super* 

fluous,  Rector  ;  for  have  we  not  steamboats  ? 


THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY.  23 

Sandstad.  And    would  have    been    outrageously 

expensive. 

E.UMMEL.  Yes  and   would    actually   have   ruined 

vested  interests  here  in  the  town. 

Beenick.  The  great  objection  was  that  it  would  have 
done  no  good  to  the  great  mass  of  the  communitj-. 
Therefore  I  opposed  it,  and  then  the  inland  line  was 
adopted. 

HiLMAB.  Yes,  but  that  won't  touch  the  towns  about 
here. 

Bernick.  It  will  touch  our  town,  my  dear  Hilmar,  for 
we  are  going  to  build  a  branch  line. 

Hilmar.  Aha  ;  it  is  an  entirely  new  plan,  then  ? 

RuMMEL.  Yes  ;  isn't  it  a  magnificent  idea,  eh  ! 

RORLUND.    H'm 

ViGELAXD.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  Providence  seems 
to  have  ordered  the  lie  of  the  land  specially  for  a  branch 
line. 

RoELUND.  Do  you  really  say  so,  Mr.  Vigeland  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  I  must  admit  I  too  regard  it  as  a  special 
guidance  that  I  happened  to  take  a  business  journey 
this  spring,  and  by  chance  came  down  a  valley  where  I 
had  never  been  before.  It  struck  me  like  a. flash  of 
lightning  that  here  was  the  very  track  for  a  branch  to 
the  town.  I  sent  an  engineer  to  inspect  it  all  ;  I  have 
here  the  preliminary  accounts  and  estimates  ;  nothing 
stands  in  our  way. 

Mrs.  Bernick  {still  standing  along  with  the  other  ladies 
at  the  garden  door).  But,  my  dear  Karsten,  why  have 
you  kept  all  this  so  secret  ? 

Bernick.  Oh,  my  good  Betty,  you  wouldn't  have  been 
able  to  grasp  the  true   position  of  affairs.     Besides,  J 


24  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

haven't  spoken  of  it  to  any  living  creature  until  to-day. 
But  now  the  decisive  moment  has  come.  Now  we  must 
go  to  work  openly,  and  with  all  our  might.  Ay,  if  I 
have  to  risk  all  I  possess  in  the  affair,  I  will  make  it  suc- 
ceed. 

RuMMEL.  We,  too,  Bernick  ;  you  may  rely  on  us. 

RoRLUND.  Do  you  really  expect  such  great  results  from 
this  undertaking,  gentlemen  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  I  should  think  so !  What  a  lever  it 
will  be  for  our  whole  community  !  Only  think  of  the 
great  tracts  of  forest  it  will  bring  within  reach  ;  think 
of  all  the  rich  mineral  seams  it  will  allow  us  to  work  ; 
think  of  the  river,  with  its  one  waterfall  above  the  other  ! 
What  great  manufactures  may  there  not  be  started. 

RoRLUND.  And  you  are  not  afraid  that  a  more  frequent 
intercourse  with  a  depraved  outer  world ? 

Bernick.  No — be  quite  at  ease.  Rector.  Our  busy 
little  town  rests  nowadays.  Heaven  be  thanked,  on  a 
sound  moral  foundation  ;  we  have  all  helped  to  drain  it, 
if  I  may  say  so  ;  and  that  we  will  continvie  to  do,  each 
in  his  own  way.  You,  Rector,  continue  jonv  beneficent 
activity  in  the  school  and  in  the  family.  We,  the  men  of 
practical  work,  support  society  by  spreading  prosperity 
in  as  wide  a  circle  as  possible  ;  and  our  women — yes, 
come  nearer,  ladies  ;  I  am  glad  that  you  should  hear  ; — 
our  women,  I  say,  our  wives  and  daughters — do  you 
work  on  undisturbed  in  your  labor  of  well-doing,  ladies, 
and  be  a  help  and  comfort  to  those  nearest  and  dearest 
to  you,  as  my  dear  Betty  and  Martha  are  to  me  and 
Olaf {Looks  around.) Why,  where  is  Olaf  to-day  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Oh,  now  in  the  holidays,  it's  impossible 
to  keep  him  at  home. 


TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  25 

Bernick.  Then  he's  certain  to  have  gone  down  to  the 
water  again.     You'll  see,  this  will  end  in  a  misfortune. 

HiLiviAR.   Bah — a  little  sport  with  the  powers  of  nature. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  How  nice  it  is  of  you  to  be  so  domes- 
tic, Mr,  Bernick. 

Bernick.  Ah,  the  family  is  the  kernel  of  society.  A 
good  home,  honorable  and  trusty  friends,  a  little  close- 
drawn  circle,  where  no  disturbing  elements  cast  their 
shadow — — 

Krap  comes  in  from  the  right  with  letters  and  j^obpers. 

KJRAP.  The  foreign  post.  Consul — and  a  telegram 
from  New  York. 

Bernick  [taking  it).  Ah,  from  the  owners  of  the  Indian 
Girl. 

EuMMEL.  Oh,  the  post  has  come  ?  Then  you  must 
excuse  me 

ViGELAND.  And  me  too. 

Sandstad.  Good-day,  Consul. 

Bernick.  Good-day,  good-day,  gentlemen.  And  re- 
member we  have  a  meeting  this  afternoon  at  five 
o'clock. 

The  Three.  Yes — of  course — of  course.  {They  go  out 
to  the  right.) 

Bernick  {who  has  read  the  telegram).  Well,  this  is  real- 
ly too  American  !     Positively  shocking ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Why,  Karsten,  what  is  it  ? 

Bernick.  Look  here,  Krap — read  this ! 

Krap  {reads).  "  Fewest  possible  repairs  ;  send  Indian 
Girl  without  delay  ;  good  season  :  at  worst,  cargo  will 
keep  her  afloat."     Well,  I  must  say 

Bernick.  The  cargo  keep  her  afloat !     These  gentle- 


26  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

meu  know  very  well  tliat  with  that  cargo  she'll  go  to  the 
bottom  like  a  stoue,  if  anything  happens. 

KoRLUND.  This  shows  the  state  of  things  in  these 
vaunted  large  communities. 

Bernick.  You  are  right  there — no  considei-ation  even 
for  human  life  in  a  question  of  profit.  {To  KiiAP.)  Can 
the  Indian  Girl  be  ready  for  sea  in  four  or  five  days  ? 

Krap.  Yes,  if  Mr.  Vigeland  will  agree  to  let  the  Palm 
Tree  stand  over  in  the  meantime, 

Bernick.  H'm — he  won't  do  that.  Oh,  just  look 
through  the  mail,  please.  By  the  way,  did  you  not  see 
Olaf  down  on  the  pier  ? 

Krap.  No,  Consul.     {He  goes  into  Consul's  office.) 

Bernick  {looking  again  at  the  telegram).  These  fellows 
never  think  twice   about  risking  the  lives  of  eighteen 


HiLMAR.  Well,  it's  a  sailor's  calling  to  brave  the 
elements ;  there  must  be  something  bracing  to  the 
nerves  in  having  only  a  thin  plank  between  you  and 
eternity 

Bernick.  I'd  like  to  see  the  shipowner  amongst  us 
that  would  have  the  conscience  for  such  a  thing  !  not  a 
single  one  !  {Catches  sight  of  Olaf.)  Ah,  thank  Heav- 
en, there  he  is,  safe  and  sound. 

Ol.af  laith  a  fishing-line  in  his  hand,  comes  running  iq)  the 
street  and  through  the  garden  gate. 

Olaf  {still  in  the  garden).  Uncle  Hilmar,  I've  been  down 
seeing  the  steamboat. 

Bernick.  Have  you  been  down  on  the  pier  again  ? 

Olaf.  No,  I  was  only  out  in  a  boat.  But  just  think, 
Uncle  Hilmar,  a  circus  company  came  with  the  steamer, 


THE  PILLARS  OF'  SOCIETY.  27 

with  horses  and  wild  beasts;  and  there  were  a  great 
many  passengers  besides. 

Mrs.  Rxjmmel.  Oh  !  are  we  really  to  have  a  circus  ? 

RoRLUND.  We  ?     Really  I  should  hope  not. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  No,  of  course  not  rve,  but 

DiNA.  I  should  like  to  see  the  horsemanship. 

Olaf.  And  I,  too. 

HiLMAK.  You're  a  little  blockhead.  What  is  there  to 
see?  All  sham.  Now  it  would  be  something  worth 
while  to  see  the  gaucho  sweeping  over  the  Pampas  on 
his  snorting  mustang.  But,  hang  it !  here  in  these  little 
towns 

Ol;\f  [pulling  31artha's  dress).  Aunt  Martha,  look, 
look — there  they  come. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Yes,  indeed,  here  we  have  them. 

Mrs.  Lynge.  Oh,  what  horrid  people  !  (Many  travellers 
and  a  whole  crowd  of  townspeople  come  up  the  street.) 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes,  they  are  a  regular  set  of  mounte- 
banks. Just  look  at  that  one  in  the  gray  dress,  Mrs. 
Holt  ;  the  one  with  the  knapsack  on  her  back. 

Mrs.  Holt.  Yes,  see,  she  has  slung  it  on  the  handle  of 
her  parasol.     Of  course  it  is  the  manager's  wife. 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Oh,  and  there  is  the  manager  himself, 
the  one  with  the  beard.  Well,  he  looks  a  regular 
pirate.     Don't  look  at  him,  Hilda  ! 

Mrs.  Holt.   Nor  you  either,  Netta. 

Olaf.  Oh,  mother,  the  manager  is  bowing  to  us. 

Bernick.  What? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  What  do  you  say,  child  ? 

Mrs.  Rummel.  Yes,  I  declare,  and  there's  the  woman 
nodding  too  ! 

Bernick.  Come,  this  is  really  too  much  I 


•16  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Martha  {yoiih  an  involuntary  cry).  Ah ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  What  is  it,  Martha  ? 

Martha.   Oh,  no,  nothing — only  I  thought 

Olaf  {shrieks  with  delight).  Look,  there  come  the 
others,  with  the  horses  and  wild  beasts  !  And  there  are 
the  Americans  too !     All  the   sailors  from   the   Indian 

Girl ("  Yankee    Doodle "   is   heard,  j^Zayec^   on    a 

clarinet  and  drum.) 

HrLMvUi  {dopping  his  ears).  Ugh,  ugh,  ugh ! 

Korlund.  I  think  we  should  retire  for  a  little,  ladies. 
This  is  not  a  scene  for  us.    Let  us  go  to  our  work  again. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Perhaps  we  should  draw  the  curtains  ? 

RoRLUND.  Yes,  that  is  just  what  I  was  thinking.  {The 
ladies  take  their  j^laces  at  the  table.  Korlund  shuts  the  gar- 
den door  and  draws  the  curtain  over  it  and  over  the  win' 
dows :  it  becomes  half  dark  in  the  room.) 

Olaf  {2:)eeping  out).  Mother,  the  manager's  wife  is 
standing  at  the  fountain  washing  her  face  ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  What,  in  the  middle  of  the  market- 
place ! 

Mrs.  Rummel.  And  in  broad  daylight ! 

HiLMAR.  Well,  if  I  were  travelling  in  the  desert  and 

came  upon  a  spi'ing,  I  should  never  hesitate  to Ugh, 

that  abominable  clarinet ! 

RoRLUND.  It  seems  to  me  the  police  should  interfere. 

Bernick.  Oh,  no  ;  one  mustn't  be  too  hard  upon  for- 
eigners ;  these  people  haven't  the  deep-rooted  sense  of 
propriety  that  keeps  us  within  the  right  limits.  Let 
them  do  as  they  please,  it  doesn't  hurt  us.  All  this  dis- 
ordeiiiness,  setting  itself  up  against  propriety  and  good 
manners,  is,  fortunately,  quite  out  of  touch  with  our 
society,  if  I  may  say  so What  is  this  ? 


THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY.  29 

A  Stkange  Lady  suddenly  enters  by  the  door  on  the  right. 

The  Ladies  (frightened  and  sjjeaking  low).  The  circus 
woman  !    The  manager's  wife  ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Good  heavens  !   what  does  this  mean  ? 

Martha  (starts  up).  Ah  ! 

The  Lady.  Good  -  day,  my  dear  Betty  !  Good  -  day, 
Martha  !    Good-day,  brother-in-law  ! 

Mrs,  Bernick  {with  a  shriek) .  Lona ! 

Bernick  (starts  back  a  step).  As  I  live ! 

Mrs.  Holt.  Why,  mercy  on  us ! 

Mrs.  Kummel.  It  can't  be  possible ! 

HiLMAR.  What!     Ugh! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Lona !     Is  it  really ! 

LoNA.  Really  me  ?  Yes,  indeed  it  is.  You  may  fall  on 
my  neck  and  embrace  me,  for  that  matter. 

HiLMAR.  Ugh  !  ugh  ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  And  you  come  here  as ? 

Bernick.  You  are  actually  going  to  appear ? 

Lona.  Appear  ?     How  appear  ? 

Bernick.  I  mean — in  the  circus  ? 

Lona.  Ha !  ha  !  ha  !  What  nonsense,  brother-in-law. 
Do  you  think  I  belong  to  the  circus  ?  No  ;  it's  true  I've 
done  all  sorts  of  things,  and  made  a  fool  of  myself  in 
many  ways 

Mrs.  Eummel.  H'm ! 

Lona.  But  I've  never  learned  to  play  tricks  on  horse- 
back-  

Bernick.  Then  you're  not ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Oh,  thank  goodness  ! 

Lona.  No,  indeed  ;  we  came  like  other  respectable 
people — second-class,  it's  true,  but  we're  used  to  that. 


30  THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY. 

Mrs.  Beenick.    We,  you  say  ? 

Bernick  (striding  forward).  What  wef 

LoNA.  Why,  my  boy  and  I,  of  course. 

The  Ladies  {with  a  cry).  Your  boy  ! 

HiLMAR.  What? 

RoRLUND.  Well,  I  must  say 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Why,  what  do  you  mean,  Lona  ? 

LoNA.  Of  course  I  mean  John  ;  I've  no  other  boy  but 
John,  that  I  know  of — or  Johan,  as  you  call  him. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Johan ! 

Mrs.  Eummel  (aside  to  Mrs.  Lynge).  The  prodigal 
brother  ! 

Bernick  (slowly).  Is  Johan  with  you  ? 

LoNA.  Of  course,  of  course  ;  I  wouldn't  travel  without 
him.  But  you're  all  looking  so  dismal — and  sitting  here 
in  this  twilight,  sewing  at  something  white  ?  There 
hasn't  been  a  death  in  the  family  ? 

Eorlund.  You  find  yourself,  Miss  Hessel,  in  the  society 
for  the  Lapsed  and  Lost. 

LoNA  (half  to  herself).  What  do  you  say  ?  These  nice- 
looking,  well-behaved  ladies,  can  they  be ? 

Mrs.  Rummel.   Oh,  this  is  too  much  ! 

LoNA.  Oh,  I  understand,  I  understand  !  Why,  good 
gracious,  that's  Mrs.  Rummel  !  And  there  sits  Mrs. 
Holt,  too  !  Well,  we  three  haven't  gi'own  younger  since 
we  met  last.  But  listen  now,  good  people  ;  let  the 
Lapsed  and  Lost  wait  for  one  day  ;  they'll  be  none  the 
worse  for  it.     A  joyful  occasion  like  this 

RoRLUND.  A  return  home  is  not  always  a  joyful  oc- 
casion ! 

Lona.  Indeed  ?    How  do  you  read  your  Bible,  Pastor  ? 

RoRLUND.  I  am  not  a  clergyman. 


THh]  PILLARS   OB'  SOCIETY.  31 

LoNA.  Oil,  theu  you  will  be  for  certain But,  fie, 

fie — this  moral  lineu  here  smells  so  tainted — just  like  a 
shroud.  I  am  accustomed  to  the  air  of  the  prairies  now, 
I  can  tell  you. 

Bernick  {wiping  his  forehead).  Yes,  it  is  really  rather 
oppressive  in  here. 

LoNA.  Wait  a  little,  wait  a  little — we'll  soon  rise  from 
the  sepulchre  {draws  hack  the  curtains).  We  must  have 
broad  daylight  here  when  my  boy  comes.  Yes — then 
you'll  see  a  boy  that  has  washed  himself 

HiLMAR.    Ugh  ! 

LoNA  {opens  the  door  and  the  windows).  I  mean  when 
he  has  washed  himself — up  at  the  hotel — for  on  board 
the  steamer  you  get  as  dirty  as  a  pig. 

HiLMAR.  Ugh,  ugh  ! 

LoNA.  Ugh  ?     Why  I  declare  it  is {Points  to  Hil- 

MAR,  and  asks  the  others.)  Does  he  still  loaf  about  saying 
"ugh  "  to  everything? 

HiLMAR.  I  don't  loaf  ;  I  stop  here  for  the  sake  of  my 
health. 

RoRLXJND.  H'm.     Ladies,  I  don't  think  that 

LoNA  {catches  sight  o/Olxf).  Is  he  yours,  Betty?  Give 
me  your  fist,  my  boy — or  are  you  afraid  of  your  ugly  old 
aunt? 

RoRLUND  {putting  his  book  under  his  arm).  I  don't 
think,  ladies,  that  we  are  quite  in  the  mood  for  doing- 
more  work  to-day.     But  we  shall  meet  again  to-morrow  ? 

LoNA  {as  the  visitors  rise  to  go).  Yes,  let  us — I'll  be 
here,  you  may  depend. 

RoRLUND.  You  ?  Allow  me.  Miss  Hessel,  to  ask  what 
you  will  do  in  our  society  ? 

LoNA.  I  will  let  in  fresh  air,  Pastor. 


ACT  II. 

[TTie  (/arde?i  room  in  Consul  Bernick's  house.^ 

[Mrs.  Bernick  is  sitting  alone  at  the  toork-table,  sewing. 
In  a  little  while  Consul  Bernick  enters  from  the 
right,  ivith  his  hat  and  gloves  on,  and  a  stick  hi  his 
hand.] 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Are  you  home  already,  Karsten  ? 

Bernick.     Yes.     I  have  an  appointment  here. 

Mrs.  Bernick  (sighing).  Oh,  yes,  I  suppose  Johan  will 
be  down  here  again. 

Bernick.  No,  it's  with  one  of  my  men.  [Takes  off  his 
hat. )     "Where  are  all  the  ladies  to-day  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Mrs.  Rummel  and  Hilda  hadn't  time  to 
come. 

Bernick.  Ah !     Sent  excuses  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Yes  ;  they  had  so  much  to  do  at  home. 

Bernick.  Of  course,  of  course.  And  the  others  aren't 
coming  either,  I  suppose. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  No,  something  has  come  in  the  way  with 
them  too. 

Bernick.  I  was  sure  it  would.     Where  is  Olaf  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  I  allowed  him  to  go  out  a  little  with 
Dina. 

Bernick.  H'm  !  Dina,  the  thoughtless  hussy.  How 
could  she  go  and  at  once  strike  up  a  friendship  with 
Johan ! 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  38 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Why,  my  dear  Karsten,  Dina  has  no 
idea 

Bernick.  Well  then,  Johan  at  least  should  have  had 
tact  enough  not  to  take  any  notice  of  her.  I  could  see 
Vigeland's  expressive  glances. 

Mrs.  Bernick  [dropping  her  loork  into  her  lap).  Kars- 
ten, can  you  understand  what  has  brought  them  home  ? 

Bernick.  H'm  ;-he  has  a  farm  over  there,  which  I 
suppose  isn't  getting  on  very  well ;  she  hinted  yesterday 
that  they  had  to  travel  second-class 

Mrs.  Bernick,  Yes,  I'm  afraid  it  must  be  something  of 
that  sort.  But  that  she  should  have  come  with  him  ! 
She  !  after  the  terrible  way  she  insulted  you ! 

Bernick.   Oh,  don't  think  of  these  old  stories. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  How  can  I  think  of  anything  else  ? 
He's  my  own  brother,  you  know  ;  and  yet  it's  not  for  his 
sake,  but  all  the  unpleasantness  it  will  bring  upon  you. 
Karsten,  I  am  so  dreadfully  afraid  that 

Bernick.   What  are  you  afraid  of  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Might  they  not  think  of  arresting  him 
for  that  money  your  mother  lost  ? 

Bernick.  What  nonsense  !  Who  can  prove  that  she 
lost  the  money  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Unfortunately  the  whole  town  knows 
it,  and  you  said  yourself 

Bernick.  I  said  nothing.  The  town  knows  nothing 
about  these  affairs  ;  it  was  a  mere  rumor. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Oh,  how  noble  you  are,  Karsten  ! 

Bernick.  Forget  these  old  stories,  I  say.  You  don't 
know  how  you  torture  me  by  raking  all  this  up  again. 
[He  walks  up  and  down  the  room  ;  then  he  pitches  his 
stick   away  from  him.)     That  they  should  come  home 


84  TUE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY, 

jnst  at  this  time,  when  I  depend  so  much  on  unmixed 
good-feeling,  both  in  the  press  and  in  the  town.  There 
will  be  paragraphs  iu  the  papers  all  over  the  country-side. 
Whether  I  receive  them  well  or  ill,  my  action  will  be 
discussed,  my  motives  misinterpreted.  They'll  rip  up  all 
these  old  stories — just  as  you  do.     In  a  community  like 

ours {Throws  doxon  JxU gloves  upon  the  table.)     And 

I  haven't  a  person  here  I  can  confide  in,  or  that  can  give 
me  any  support. 

Mrs.  Beknick.  No  one  at  all,  Karsten  ? 

Bernick.  No  ;  you  know  I  haven't.  That  they  should 
come  upon  me  just  at  this  moment  !  There's  no  doubt 
they'll  cause  a  scandal  in  one  way  or  another — especially 
she.  It  is  a  perfect  calamity  to  have  such  people  in  one's 
family. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Well,  it's  not  my  fault  that 

Bernick.  What's  not  your  fault  ?  That  you  are  re- 
lated to  them  ?     No  ;  that's  true  enough. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  And  it  wasn't  I  that  asked  them  to 
come  home. 

Bernick.  Aha  !  now  we  have  it.  "/didn't  ask  them 
to  come  home  ;  /didn't  write  for  them  ;  /  didn't  drag 
them  home  by  the  hair  of  their  heads."  Oh,  I  know  the 
whole  story  off  by  heart. 

Mrs.  Bernick  [bursting  into  tears).  Oh,  why  are  you 
so  unkind  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  that's  right  ;  set  to  crying,  so  that  the 
town  may  have  that  to  talk  about,  too.  Stop  this  non- 
sense, Betty.  You'd  better  sit  outside  there  ;  someone 
might  come  in.  Perhaps  you  want  people  to  see  madam 
with  red  eyes  ?  Yes,  it  would  be  nice  if  it  got  abroad 
among  people  that Ah  !   I  hear   someone  in  the 


THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY.  3/) 

lobby.     {A  knock.)     Come  iii.     (Mrs.  Bebnick  goes  out 
to  the  garden  steps  vrith  her  work.) 

AuNE  comes  in  from  the  right. 

AuNE.  Good-day,  Consul  ! 

Bernick.  Good-day.  Well,  I  suppose  you  can  guess 
■what  I  want  with  you  ? 

AuNE.  Your  clerk  told  me  yesterday  oliat  you  wei-e 
not  pleased  with 

Berj^iok.  I ,  am  altogether  displeased  with  the  way 
things  go  on  at  the  yard,  Aune.  You  are  not  getting  on 
at  all  with  the  repairs.  The  Palm  Tree  should  have 
been  at  sea  long  ago.  Mr.  Vigeland  comes  bothering 
me  about  it  every  day.  He  is  a  tx-oublesome  man  to 
have  for  a  partner. 

AuNE.  The  Palm  Tree  can  go  to  sea  the  day  after  to- 
morrow. 

Bernick.  At  last !  But  the  American,  the  Indian  Girl, 
that's  been  lying  here  five  weeks,  and 

Aune.  The  American?  I  understood  that  we  were 
first  to  get  on  as  fast  as  possible  with  your  own  ship. 

Bernick.  I  have  given  you  no  reason  for  such  an  idea. 
You  should  have  made  all  possible  progress  with  the 
American  too  ;  but  you  have  done  nothing. 

Aune.  The  vessel's  bottom  is  as  rotten  as  matchwood, 
Consul ;  the  moi'e  we  patch  at  it  the  worse  it  gets. 

Bernick.  That's  not  the  true  reason.  Krap  has  told 
me  the  whole  truth.  You  don't  understand  how  to  work 
with  the  new  machines — or  rather,  you  won't  work  with 
them. 

Aune.  Consul  Bernick,   I  am  getting   on   for   sixty ; 


36  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

from  my  boyhood  I  have  been  accustomed  to  the  old 
way  of  work 

Bernick.  We  can't  get  on  with  it  nowadays.  You 
mustn't  think,  Aune,  that  it's  for  the  sake  of  mere  profit ; 
luckily  I  don't  require  that  ;  but  I  must  take  into  con- 
sideration the  community  I  live  in,  and  the  house  of 
business  of  which  I  am  the  head.  It  is  from  me  that 
that  progress  must  come,  or  it  will  never  come  at  all. 

Aune.  I  have  no  objection  to  progress,  Consul. 

Bernick.  No,  for  your  own  narrow  circle,  for  the 
working-class.  Oh,  I  know  well  enough  the  agitations 
you  get  up  ;  you  make  speeches  ;  you  stir  people  up  ; 
but  when  a  tangible  piece  of  progress  offers  itself,  as  in 
the  case  of  the  machines,  you  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  it ;  you  are  afraid. 

Aune.  Yes,  I  am  really  afraid.  Consul ;  I  am  afraid  for 
the  many  whom  the  machines  will  rob  of  their  daily 
bread.  You  often  talk  of  care  for  the  community.  Con- 
sul, but  it  seems  to  me  that  the  community,  too,  has  its 
duties.  How  dare  science  and  capital  set  all  this  new 
mechanism  to  work  before  the  community  has  educated 
-a  generation  that  can  use  it  ? 

Bernick.  You  read  and  think  too  much,  Aune  ;  it  does 
you  no  good ;  it  is  that  which  makes  you  dissatisfied 
with  your  position. 

Aune.  It  is  not  that.  Consul ;  but  I  cannot  bear  to 
see  one  good  workman  after  another  sent  away  to  star- 
vation for  the  sake  of  these  machines. 

Bernick.  H'm  ;  when  printing  was  discovered,  many 
copyists  had  to  starve. 

Aune.  Would  you  have  admired  the  art  so  much. 
Consul,  if  you  had  then  been  a  copyist  ? 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  bl 

Beenick.  I  didn't  send  for  you  to  argue  with  you.  I 
sent  for  you  to  tell  you  that  the  Indian  Girl  must  be 
ready  to  sail  the  day  after  to-morrow. 

AuNE.  Why,  Consul 

Bernick.  The  day  after  to-morrow,  do  you  hear;  at 
the  same  time  as  our  own  ship  ;  not  an  hour  latei*.  I 
have  my  reasons  for  hurrying  on  the  affair.  Have  you 
read  this  morning's  paper  ?  Ah  ! — then  you  know  that 
the  Americans  have  been  making  disturbances  again. 
The  shameless  pack  put  the  whole  town  topsy-turvy. 
Not  a  night  passes  without  fights  in  the  taverns  or  on 
the  street ;  not  to  speak  of  other  abominations. 

AuNE.  Yes,  they're  certainly  a  bad  lot. 

BER>acK.  And  who  gets  the  blame  for  all  this  disturb- 
ance ?  It  is  I — yes  I,  that  suffer  for  it.  These  news- 
paper scribblers  are  always  covertly  carping  at  us  for 
giving  our  whole  attention  to  the  Palm  Tree.  And  I, 
whose  mission  it  is  to  be  an  example  to  my  fellow- 
citizens,  must  have  such  things  thrown  in  my  teeth  !  I 
cannot  bear  it.  It  won't  do  for  me  to  have  my  name 
bespattered  in  this  way. 

AuNE.  Oh,  your  name  is  so  good  it  can  bear  more 
than  that. 

Bernick.  Not  just  now ;  precisely  at  this  moment  I 
need  all  the  respect  and  good-will  of  my  fellow-citizens. 
I  have  a  great  undertaking  on  hand,  as  you  have  pi'ob- 
ably  heard ;  but  if  evil-disposed  persons  succeed  in 
shaking  people's  unqualified  confidence  in  me,  it  may 
involve  me  in  the  greatest  difficulties.  So  I  must 
silence  these  carping  and  spiteful  scribblers  at  any 
price,  and  that  is  why  I  give  you  till  the  day  after  to- 
morrow. 

11 


38  THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY. 

AuNE.  You  might  as  well  give  me  till  this  afternoon, 
Consul  Beruick. 

Bernick.  You  mean  that  I'm  demanding  impossibili- 
ties ? 

AuNB.  Yes,  with  the  working  staff  we  have  now 

Beenick.  Oh,  very  well ; — then  we  must  look  about  us 
elsewhere. 

AuNE.  Will  you  really  dismiss  still  more  of  the  old 
workmen  ? 

Bernick.  No,  that's  not  what  I'm  thinking  of. 

AuNE.  For  I  am  sure  if  you  did  so  there  would  be  an 
outcry  both  in  the  town  and  in  the  newspapers. 

Bernick.  Very  possibly  ;  therefore  I  won't  do  it.  But 
if  the  Indian  Girl  isn't  cleared  the  day  after  to-morrow 
I  shall  dismiss  you. 

AuNE  [with  a  atari).  Me  !  [Laughiyig.)  Oh,  you  are 
joking  now,  Consul. 

Bernick.  I  don't  advise  you  to  trust  to  that. 

AuNE.  You-  can  think  of  dismissing  me !  Me,  whose 
father  and  grandfather  worked  in  the  shipyard  all  their 
lives,  and  myself  too 

Bernick.  Who  forces  me  to  it  ? 

AuNE.  You  ask  impossibilities,  Consul  ? 

Bernick.  Oh,  where  there's  a  will  there's  a  way.  Yes 
or  no ;  answer  me  decidedly,  or  I  dismiss  you  on  the 
spot. 

Atoje  {coming  nearer).  Consul  Bernick,  have  you  rightly 
reflected  what  it  is  to  dismiss  an  old  workman  ?  You 
say  he  can  look  out  for  something  else  ?  Oh,  yes,  I  dare 
say  he  can — but  is  that  all  ?  If  you  could  only  look 
into  the  house  of  a  dismissed  workman  on  the  evening 
when  he  comes  home  and  brings  his  tool-chest  with  him. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  39 

Bernick.  Do  you  tbink  I  am  glad  to  part  with  you  ? 
Have  I  not  always  been  a  good  master  to  you  ? 

AuNE.  So  mucb  tbe  worse,  Consul.  Just  on  tbat 
account  my  people  at  borne  will  not  blame  you.  Tbey 
will  not  say  anytbing  to  me,  for  tbey  dare  not ;  but  tbey 
will  look  at  me  wben  I  am  not  noticing,  and  tbink  it 
must  surely  bave  been  my  fault.  You  see,  tbat — tbat 
is  wbat  I  cannot  bear.  Poor  man  as  I  am,  I  bave  always 
been  tbe  first  in  my  own  bouse.  My  bumble  home  is 
itself  a  little  community.  Consul  Bernick.  Tbat  little 
community  I  bave  been  able  to  support  and  bold  to- 
getber  because  my  wife  believed  in  me,  my  cbildren 
believed  in  me.  And  now  tbe  wbole  tbing  falls  to 
pieces. 

Bernick.  Well,  if  it  can't  be  otberwise,  tbe  less  must 
fall  before  tbe  greater  ;  tbe  part  must  in  Heaven's  name 
be  sacrificed  to  tbe  wbole.  I  can  give  you  no  otber 
answer ;  and  you  will  find  tbings  are  so  ordered  bere  in 
tbe  world.  But  3'ou  are  an  obstinate  man,  Aune  !  You 
stand  against  me,  not  because  you  can't  do  otberwise, 
but  because  you  will  not  prove  tbe  superiority  of  ma- 
chinery to  manual  labor. 

AuNE.  And  3'ou  bold  fast  to  tbis,  Consul,  because  you 
know  tbat  if  you  send  me  away  you  will  at  least  bave 
sbown  tbe  papers  your  goodwill. 

Bernick.  And  if  it  were  so  ?  You  bear  wbat  a  dilemma 
I  am  in — I  must  either  bave  tbe  wbole  press  down  upon 
me,  or  I  must  get  it  well-disposed  toward  me  at  tbe 
moment  wben  I  am  working  for  a  great  and  beneficent 
cause.  Wbat  follows  ?  Can  I  possibly  act  otberwise  ? 
I  tell  you  tbe  question  is  wbetber  your  home  is  to  be 
kept  up  and  hundreds  of  new  homes  to  be  kept  down, 


40  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

hundreds  of  homes  which  will  never  be  founded,  will 
never  have  a  smoking  hearthstone,  if  I  do  not  succeed 
in  what  I  am  now  working  for.  So  I  give  you  your 
choice. 

AuNE.  Well,  if  that  is  how  it  stands,  I  have  nothing 
more  to  say. 

Bernick.  H'm — my  dear  Aune,  I  am  truly  sorry  that  we 
must  part. 

Aune.  We  will  not  part,  Consul  Bernick. 

Bernick.  What  ? 

Aune.  Even  a  common  man  has  his  rights  here  in  the 
world. 

Bernick.  Of  course,  of  course.  Then  you  can 
promise ? 

Aune.  The  Indian  Girl  shall  be  cleared  the  day  after 
to-morrow.      {He  hows  and  goes  out  to  the  right.) 

Bernick.  Aha,  I've  got  over  his  stiff-necked  notions. 
I  take  that  as  a  good  omen 

Hilmar   Tonnesen,    xvith   a   cigar   in   his   mouth,    comes 
through  the  garden  gate. 

HiLMAK  {o7i  the  garden  steps).  Good-day,  Betty  !  Good- 
day,  Bernick ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Good-day. 

Hilmar.  Oh,  you've  been  crying,  I  see.  Then  you  have 
heard  all  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  All  what  ? 

Hilmar.  That  the  scandal  is  in  full  swing  !     Ugh ! 

Bernick.  What  do  you  mean  ? 

Hilmar  (coming  into  the  room).  Why,  that  the  two 
Americans  are  going  about  the  streets,  showing  them- 
selves off  in  company  with  Dina  Dorf. 


THE  PILLARS   OF  80CIET7.  41 

Mrs.  Bernick  {also  coining  in).  Oh,  Hilmar,  can  it  be 
possible ? 

Hilmar.  Yes,  unfortunately,  it's  quite  true.  Lona 
had  even  the  want  of  tact  to  call  out  to  me ;  but  of  course 
I  pretended  not  hear  her. 

Bernick,  And  of  course  all  of  this  hasn't  been  going 
on  unnoticed. 

Hilmar.  No,  you  may  be  sure  it  hasn't.  People  stopped 
and  looked  at  them.  It  ran  like  wildfire  over  the  town 
— like  a  fire  on  the  western  prairies.  People  stood  at 
the  windows  of  all  the  houses  waiting  for  the  procession 
to  pass,  head  to  head  behind  the  curtains.  Ugh  !  You 
must  excuse  me,  Betty  ;  I  say,  ugh  !  for  it  makes  me  so 
nervous.  If  this  goes  on  I  shall  have  to  think  of  taking 
a  trip  somewhere,  pretty  far  ofi". 

Mrs.  Bernick.  But  you  should  have  spoken  to  him, 
and  showed  him 

Hilmar.  In  the  public  street?  No,  I  beg  to  be  ex- 
cused. The  idea  that  that  fellow  should  dare  to  show 
himself  here  in  town !  Well,  we'll  see  if  the  press 
doesn't  put  a  stojDper  on  him.  I  beg  your  pardon, 
Betty,  but 

Bernick.  The  press,  you  say?  Have  you  heard  any 
hints  of  that  sort  ? 

Hilmar.  Yes,  a  slight  hint.  When  I  left  here  last 
night  I  strolled  up  to  the  club  for  the  sake  of  my 
health.  I  could  see  from  the  sudden  silence  when  I 
came  in  that  the  two  Americans  had  been  on  the  tapis. 
And  then  in  came  that  impertinent  Editor  Hammer, 
and  congratulated  me,  before  everybody,  upon  my  rich 
cousin's  return. 

Bernick.  Rich ? 


42  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

HiLMAR.  Yes,  that  was  what  he  said.  I  measured  him 
from  top  to  toe  with  the  scorn  he  deserves,  and  gave 
him  to  understand  that  I  knew  nothing  of  Johan  Tonne- 
sen  being  rich.  "Indeed,"  says  he;  "that's  strange. 
In  America  people  generally  get  on  when  they've  some- 
thing to  start  with,  and  your  cousin  didn't  go  over 
empty-handed." 

BernicIc.  H'm  !    Be  so  good  as  to 

Mrs.  Bernick  (anxiously).  There,  you  see,  Karsten. 

HiLMAR,  Well,  at  any  rate,  I've  had  a  sleepless  night 
on  the  fellow's  account,  and  there  he  is  going  about  the 
streets,  looking  as  if  he  had  nothing  to  be  ashamed  of. 
Why  wasn't  he  finished  at  once  ?  It  is  intolerable  how 
tough  some  people  are. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Oh,  Hilmar,  what  are  you  saying  ? 

HiLMAR.  Oh,  I'm  not  saying  anything.  But  here  he 
escapes  safe  and  sound  from  railway  accidents,  and  fights 
with  Californian  bears  and  Blackfoot  Indians  ;  why,  he's 
not  even  scalped Ugh  !  here  they  are. 

Bernick  {looks  down  the  street).  Olaf  is  with  them, 
too. 

Hilmar.  Yes,  of  course  ;  they  must  remind  people  that 
they  belong  to  the  first  family  in  the  town.  Look,  look, 
there  come  all  the  loafers  out  from  the  druggist's  shop 
to  stare  at  them  and  make  remarks.  Really,  this  is  too 
much  for  my  nerves  ;  how  a  man,  under  such  circum- 
stances, is  to  hold  high  the  banner  of  the  ideal 

Bernick.  Tliey  are  coming  straight  here.  Listen, 
Betty  ;  it  is  my  decided  wish  that  you  should  be  as 
friendly  as  possible  to  them. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Will  you  allow  me,  Karsten? 

Bernick.   Of  course,  of  coui'se  ;  and  you,  too,  Hilmar. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  43 

They  surely  won't  remain  here  very  long ;  and  when  we 
are  alone  with  them — no  innuendoes — we  must  not  hurt 
their  feelings  in  any  way. 

Mrs.  Bernick.   Oh,  Karsten,  how  noble  you  are ! 

Bernick.  Now,  now,  don't  talk  of  that. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Oh,  but  you  must  let  me  thank  you, 
and  forgive  me  for  being  so  hasty.  You  had  every  rea- 
son to 

Bernick.  Don't  talk  of  it,  don't  talk  of  it,  I  say. 

HlLMAR.   Ugh ! 

JoHAN  ToNNESEN  and  DiNA,  and  after  them  Lona  and  Olaf, 
come  through  the  garden. 

Lona.  Good-day,  good-day,  my  dear  people. 

Johan.  We  have  been  out  looking  all  about  the  old 
place,  Karsten. 

Bernick.  Yes,  so  I  hear.     Greatly  changed,  isn't  it? 

Lona.  Consul  Bernick's  great  and  good  works  every- 
where. We  have  been  up  in  the  gardens  you  have  pre- 
sented to  the  town 

Bernick.  Oh,  there ! 

Lona.  "  Karsten  Bernick's  Gift,"  as  the  inscription 
over  the  entrance  says.     Yes,  it's  all  your  work  here. 

Johan,  And  such  magnificent  ships  as  you  have  got ! 
I  met  my  old  school- fellow,  the  captain  of  the  Palm  Tree. 

Lona.  Yes,  and  you've  built  a  new  school-house,  too. 
And  they  owe  both  the  gas  and  the  water-works  to  you, 
I  hear. 

Bernick.  Oh,  one  must  work  for  the  community  one 
lives  in. 

Lona.  Well,  it's  good  of  you,  brother-in-law  ;  but  it  is 
nice,  too,  to  see  how  people  appi'eciate  you.     I  don't 


44  TUE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

think  I  am  vain,  but  I  could  not  help  reminding  one 
or  two  of  the  people  we  talked  to  that  we  belong  to 
the  family. 

HiLMAR.    Ugh ! 

LoNA.  Do  you  say  "  Ugh  !  "  to  that  ? 

HiLMMi.  No,  I  said  "H'm" 

LoNA.  Oh,  wa^  that  all,  poor  fellow.  But  you  are 
quite  alone  here  to-day  ! 

INIks.  Bernick.  Yes,  to-day  we  are  quite  alone. 

LoNA.  By  the  bye,  we  met  one  or  two  of  the  Lapsed 
and  Lost  up  in  the  mai-ket-place ;  they  seemed  to  be 
very  busy.  But  we've  never  had  a  proper  talk  yet ; 
yesterday  Ave  had  the  three  pioneers  of  progress  here, 
and  the  pastor  too 

HiLMAR.  The  Rector. 

LoNA.  I  call  him  the  Pastor.  But  now — what  do  you 
think  of  my  work  for  these  fifteen  years  ?  Hasn't  he 
grown  a  fine  boy?  Who  would  recognize  the  madcap 
that  ran  away  from  home. 

HiLAiAR.  H'm ! 

JoHAN.  Oh,  Lona,  don't  boast  too  much. 

LoNA.  I  don't  care,  I'm  really  proud  of  it.  "Well,  well, 
it's  the  only  thing  I've  done  in  the  world,  but  it  gives 
me  a  sort  of  right  to  exist.  Yes,  Johan,  when  I  think 
how  we  two  began  life  over  there  with  only  our  four 
paws 

HiLMAR.  Hands. 

Lena.  I  say  paws,  for  they  were  as  dirty  as 

HiLMAE.   Ugh  ! 

LoNA.  And  empty,  too. 

HiLMAR.  Empty.     Well  I  must  say 

LoNA.  What  must  you  say  ? 


TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  45 

Bernick.  H'm  ! 

HiLMAR.  I  must  say — ugh  !  [Goes  out  upon  the  garden 
stair.) 

LoNA.  What's  wrong  with  the  man? 

Bernick.  Ob,  never  mind  him  ;  he's  rather  nervous 
just  now.  But  wouldn't  you  like  to  look  round  the  gar- 
den a  little  ?  You  haven't  been  down  there  yet,  and  I 
happen  to  have  an  hour  to  spare. 

LoNA.  Yes,  I  should  like  it  very  much  ;  j'ou  may  be- 
lieve ray  thoughts  have  often  been  with  you  all  here  in 
the  garden. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  There  have  been  great  changes  there, 
too,  as  you  will  see.  {The  Consul,  his  Wife,  and  Lona 
go  down  the  garden,  ivhere  they  are  now  and  then  visible 
during  the  following  scene.) 

Olaf  {at  the  garden  door).  Uncle  Hilmar,  do  you 
know  what  Uncle  John  asked  me  ?  He  asked  if  I'd  like 
to  go  with  him  to  America. 

Hilmar,  You,  you  little  good-for-nothing,  that  go 
about  tied  to  your  mother's  apron-strings. 

Olaf.  Yes,  but  I  won't  be  so  any  more.  You  shall 
see,  when  I'm  big 

Hilmar.  Oh,  rubbish  ;  you  don't  really  want  to  be 
made  a  man  of ( They  go  down  the  garden  together.) 

Johan  {to  DiNA,  who  has  taken  off  her  hat,  and  stands 
at  the  door  to  the  right  shaking  the  dust  from  her  dress). 
The  walk  has  made  you  very  warm. 

DiNA.  Yes  ;  it  was  splendid.  I  have  never  had  such 
a  nice  walk  before. 

Johan.  Perhaps  you  don't  often  go  walks  in  the 
morning. 

DiNA.  Oh,  yes  ;  but  only  with  Olaf. 


46  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

JoHAN.  Ah  ! — Perhaps  you  would  like  to  go  down  the 
garden  ? 

DiNA.  No  ;  I  would  rather  remain  here. 

JoHAN.  And  I  too.  Then  it's  settled  that  we  take  a 
walk  every  morning. 

DiNA.  No,  Mr.  Tonnesen,  you  must  not  do  that. 

JoHAN.  Why  should  I  not?  You  know  j'ou  prom- 
ised. 

DiNA.  Yes,  but  on  thinking  over  it,  I Yoa  must 

not  go  out  with  me. 

JoHAN.  Why  not  ? 

DiNA.  Ah,  you're  a  stranger  here  ;  you  can't  under- 
stand it  ;  but  I  must  tell  you 

JoHAN.  Well  ? 

DiNA.  No,  I  would  rather  not  speak  about  it. 

JoHAN.  Oh,  yes — you  may  speak  to  me  of  whatever 
jou  like. 

DiNA,  Then  I  must  tell  you  that  I  am  not  like  the 
other  girls  here  ;  there  is  something — something  about 
me.     That's  why  you  mustn't  walk  with  me. 

JoH/\N.  But  I  can't  understand  this  at  all.  You  haven't 
done  anything  wrong  ? 

DiNA.  No,  not  I,  but ;  no,  I  won't  say  any  more 

about  it.     You're  sure  to  hear  it  from  the  others. 

JoHAN.   H'm . 

DiNA.  But  there  was  something  else  I  wanted  to  ask 
you  about. 

JoHAN.  And  what  was  that? 

DiNA.  Is  it  really  so  easy  to  lead  a  life  that  is  worth 
something  over  in  America  ? 

JoHAN.  Well,  it  isn't  always  easy  ;  one  has  often  to 
suflfer  much  and  work  hard  in  the  beginning. 


TUE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY.  47 

DiNA.  I  would  willingly  do  that 

JoHAN.  You? 

DiNA.  I  can  work  well  enough  ;  I  am  strong  and 
healthy,  and  Aunt  Martha  has  taught  me  a  great  deal. 

JoHAN.   Then,  hang  it  all,  why  not  come  with  us  ? 

DiNA.  Oh,  now  you're  only  joking ;  you  said  the  same 
to  Olaf  too.  But  I  wanted  to  know,  too,  if  people  over 
there  are  very— very  moral,  you  know  ? 

JoHAX.   Moral  ? 

DiNA.  Yes,  I  mean,  are  they  so — so  proper  and  well- 
behaved  as  they  are  here  ? 

JoHAN.  Well,  at  any  rate,  they're  not  so  bad  as  people 
here  think.     Don't  be  at  all  afraid  of  that. 

DiNA.  You  don't  understand  me.  What  I  want  is  just 
that  they  should  not  be  so  very  proper  and  moral. 

JoHAN.  Indeed  ?     What  would  you  have  them  then  ? 

DiNA.   I  would  have  them  natural. 

JoHAN.  Well,  that's  perhaps  just  what  they  are. 

DiNA.  Then  that  would  be  the  place  for  me. 

JoHAN.  Yes,  indeed,  it  would  ;  so  you  must  come 
with  us. 

DiNA.  No,  I  would  not  go  with  you  ;  I  would  have  to 
go  alone.  Oh,  I  should  get  on  ;  I  should  soon  be  fit  for 
something 

Bernick  (at  the  foot  of  the  garden  stair  ivilh  Oie  two 
ladies).  Stay  here,  stay  here  ;  I  will  fetch  it,  my  dear 
Betty.  You  might  easily  catch  cold.  {^Conies  into  the 
room  and  looks  for  his  wife's  shavol.) 

Mrs.  Bernick  [from  the  garden).  You  must  come  too, 
Johan  ;  we  are  going  down  to  the  grotto. 

Bernick.  No,  Johan  must  remain  here  just  now.  Here, 
Dina  ;  take  my  wife's  shawl  and  go  with  them.     Johan 


48  THE  riLLARS   OF  SOCIETY. 

will  remain  here  with  me,  my  dear  Betty.  I  want  to  ask 
him  about  things  in  America. 

Mrs.  Bebnick.  Very  well ;  then  come  after  us ;  you 
know  where  to  find  us.  (Mrs.  Bernick,  Lona,  and  Dina 
(JO  down  through  the  garden  to  the  left.) 

Bernick  {looks  out  after  them  for  a  moment,  goes  and 
shuts  the  farthest  hack  door  on  the  left,  then  goes  up  to 
JoiiAN,  seizes  both  hands,  shakes  them,  and  presses  them 
warmly.)  Johan,  now  we  are  alone  ;  you  must  give  me 
leave  to  thank  you. 

JoHAN.  Oh,  nonsense ! 

Bernick.  My  house  and  home,  my  domestic  happiness, 
my  whole  position  in  society — all  these  I  owe  to  you. 

JoHAN.  Well,  I'm  glad  of  it,  my  dear  Karsten  ;  so  some 
good  came  of  that  foolish  story  after  all. 

Bernick  (shaking  his  hands  again).  Thanks,  thanks, 
all  the  same.  Not  one  in  ten  thousand  would  have  done 
what  3'ou  then  did  for  me. 

Johan.  Oh,  nonsense  !  Were  we  not  both  of  us  young 
and  thoughtless  ?  One  of  us  had  to  take  the  blame  upon 
him. 

Bernick.  But  to  whom  did  it  lie  nearer  than  to  the 
guilty  one  ? 

Johan.  Stop  !  Then  it  lay  nearer  to  the  innocent  one. 
I  was  alone,  free,  an  orphan  ;  it  was  a  positive  blessing 
to  me  to  escape  from  the  grind  of  the  office.  You,  on 
the  other  hand,  had  your  old  mother  in  life,  and,  besides, 
you  had  just  become  secretly  engaged  to  Betty,  and  she 
was  very  fond  of  you.  What  would  have  become  of  her 
if  she  had  come  to  know ? 

Bernick.  True,  true,  true  ;  but 

Johan.  And  was  it  not  just  for  Betty's  sake  that  you 


THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY.  49 

broke  off  that  entanglement  with  Madame  Dorf  ?  It  was 
for  the  vei*y  purpose  of  putting  an  end  to  it  that  you 
were  up  at  her  house  that  night 

Bernick.  Yes,  the  fatal  night  when  that  drunken  beast 
came  home.  Yes,  Johan,  it  was  for  Betty's  sake  ;  but 
yet,  that  you  should  turn  appearances  against  yourself 
and  go  away 

JoHAN.  Have  no  scruples,  my  dear  Karsten.  "We 
agreed  that  it  should  be  so  ;  you  had  to  be  saved,  and 
you  were  my  friend.  I  can  tell  you  I  was  proud  of  that 
friendship.  Here  was  I,  plodding  along  like  a  poor  stay- 
at-home,  when  you  came  back  like  a  very  prince  from 
your  great  foreign  tour  ;  you  had  been  in  both  London 
and  Paris.  Then  you  chose  me  for  your  bosom  friend, 
though  I  was  four  years  younger  than  you.  Well,  that 
was  because  you  were  making  love  to  Betty  ;  now  I 
understand  it  well  enough.  But  how  proud  I  was  of  it 
then  !  And  who  wouldn't  have  been  proud  ?  Who 
would  not  willingly  have  sacrificed  himself  for  you, 
especially  when  it  was  only  a  matter  of  a  month's  town- 
talk,  and  one  had  only  to  run  away  out  into  the  wide 
world. 

Bkrnick.  H'm  !  My  dear  Johan,  I  must  tell  you  openly 
that  the  story  is  not  so  entirely  forgotten  yet. 

Johan.  Is  it  not?  Well,  what  does  it  matter  to  me 
when  once  I  am  back  again  at  my  farm  ? 

Bernick.  Then  you  are  going  back  again  ? 

Johan.  Of  course. 
'    Bernick.  But  not  so  very  soon,  I  hope  ? 

Johan.  As  soon  as  possible.  It  was  only  to  please  Lona 
that  I  came  over  at  all. 

Bernick.  Indeed  ;  how  so  ? 


:,()  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

JoHAN.  Well,  you  see,  Lona  isn't  young  now,  and  for 
some  time  past  a  sort  of  home-sickness  lias  come  over 
her,  though  she  would  never  admit  it.  [Smiling.)  She 
dared  not  leave  behind  her  an  irresponsible  being  like 
me,  who,  before  I  was  out  of  my  teens,  had  been  mixed 
up  in 


Bernick.  And  then  ? 

JoHAN.  Well,  Karsten,  now  I  must  make  a  confession 
I  am  really  ashamed  of. 

Bernick.  You  haven't  told  her  the  whole  truth  ? 

JoHAN.  Yes,  I  have.  It  was  wrong  of  me,  but  I 
couldn't  help  it.  You  have  no  conception  what  Lona 
has  been  to  me.  You  could  never  endure  her  ;  but  to 
me  she  has  been  a  mother.  In  the  first  few  years  over 
there,  when  we  were  desperately  poor,  oh,  how  she 
worked  ;  and  when  I  had  a  long  illness,  and  could  not 
earn  anything,  and  could  not  keep  her  from  doing  it, 
she  took  to  singing  songs'  in  the  cafes,  gave  lectures 
that  people  laughed  at,  Avrote  a  book  she  has  both 
laughed  and  cried  over  since,  and  all  to  keep  my  soul 
and  body  together.  Last  winter,  when  I  saw  her  pining 
away,  she  who  had  toiled  and  moiled  for  me,  could  I  sit 
still  and  look  on  ?  No,  I  couldn't,  Karsten.  I  said, 
"  Go,  go,  Lona,  don't  be  afraid  for  me  ;  I  am  not  such 
a  scapegrace  as  you  think."  And  then — then  I  told  her 
the  whole. 

Bernick.  And  how  did  she  take  it  ? 

JoHAN.  Oh,  she  said  what  was  quite  true,  that  as  I  was 
innocent  I  could  have  no  objection  to  taking  a  trip  over  - 
here  myself.     But  you  needn't  be  afraid  ;  Lona  will  say 
nothing,  and  I'll  take  better  care  of  my  own  tongue  an- 
other time. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  •">! 

Bernick.  Yes,  yes,  I  am  sure  you  will. 

JoHAN.  Here's  my  hand  upon  it.  And  now  ddn't  let 
us  talk  any  more  of  that  old  story  ;  fortunately  it  is  the 
only  escapade"  either  you  or  I  have  been  mixed  up  in,  I 
hope.  And  now  I  mean  thorouglily  to  enjoy  the  few 
days  I  shall  have  here.  You  can't  think  what  a  splendid 
walk  we  have  had  this  forenoon.  Who  would  have 
thought  that  little  baggage  that  ran  about  here  and 
played  angels  in  the  theatre !  But  tell  me  what  be- 
came of  her  i:)arents  afterward  ? 

Bernick.  Oh,  there's  nothing  more  to  tell  than  what  I 
wrote  you  immediately  after  you  went  away.  You  got 
the  two  letters,  of  course  ? 

JoHAK.  Of  course,  of  course  ;  I  have  them  both.  The 
drunken  scoundrel  left  her  ? 

Beknick.  And  was  aftei-ward  killed  in  a  drinking- 
bout. 

JoHAN.  And  she  too  died  soon  after  ?  But  I  suppose 
3'ou  did  all  you  could  for  her  without  exciting  atten- 
tion. 

Bernick.  She  was  proud  ;  she  betrayed  nothing,  but 
she  would  accept  nothing. 

JoHAN.  Well,  at  any  rate,  it  was  right  of  you  to  take 
Dina  into  your  house. 

Bernick.  Oh,  yes However,  it  was  really  Martha 

that  brought  that  about. 

JoHAN.  Oh,  it  was  Martha  ?  By  the  bye,  where  is 
Martha  to-day  ? 

Bernick.  Why,  as  for  her,  when  she's  not  busy  at  the 
school,  she  has  her  sick  people  to  attend  to. 

JoHAN.   Then  it  was  Martha  that  looked  after  her  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  Martha  always  had  a  sort  of  weakness 


r)2  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

for  education.  That's  why  she  accepted  a  place  in  the 
communal  school.     It  was  very  foolish  of  her. 

JoHAN.  She  certainly  looked  very  weary  yesterday ;  I 
should  not  think  her  health  would  stand  it. 

Bernick.  Oh,  so  far  as  her  health  goes,  I  suppose  it's 
all  right.  But  it  is  unpleasant  for  ine.  It  looks  as  if  I, 
her  brother,  were  not  willing  to  maintain  her, 

JoHAN.  Maintain  her  ?  I  thought  she  had  enough  of 
her  own  to 

Bernick.  Not  a  halfpenny.  I  daresay  you  remember 
what  difficulties  my  mother  was  in  when  you  went  away. 
She  got  on  for  some  time  with  my  help  ;  but,  of  course, 
in  the  long  run  that  would  not  do  for  me.  So  I  got 
myself  taken  into  partnership  ;  but  even  then  things  did 
not  go  well.  At  last  I  had  to  take  over  the  whole  afifair, 
and  when  we  made  up  our  accounts,  it  apjDeared  that 
there  was  scarcely  anything  left  to  my  mother's  share  ; 
and  as  she  died  shortly  afterward,  Martha,  of  course, 
was  left  with  nothing. 

JoHAN.  Poor  Martha ! 

Bernick.  Poor  !  Why  so  ?  You  don't  suppose  I  let 
her  want  for  anything  ?  Oh,  no,  I  think  I  may  say  I  am 
a  good  brother.  Of  course  she  lives  with  us  and  eats  at 
our  table  ;  her  salary  is  quite  enough  for  her  dress,  and 
— what  can  a  single  woman  want  more  ? 

JoHAN.  H'm ;  that's  not  the  way  we  think  in  Amer- 
ica. 

Bernick.  No,  I  dare  say  not ;  there  are  too  many  agi- 
tators at  work  over  there.  But  here,  in  our  little  circle, 
where,  thank  Heaven,  corruption  has  not  yet  managed 
to  creep  in,  here  women  are  content  to  occupy  a  modest 
and  becoming  position.     For  the  rest,  it  is  Martha's  own 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  53 

fault ;  she  could  have  been  provided  for  long  ago  if  she 
had  cared  to, 

JoHAN.  You  mean  she  could  have  married  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  and  married  very  well  too  ;  she  has  had 
several  good  offers  ;  it's  strange  enough — a  woman  with- 
out money,  no  longer  young,  and,  besides,  quite  insig- 
nificant. 

JoHAN.   Insignificant  ? 

Bernick.  Oh,  I  don't  blame  her  at  all  for  it.  Indeed  I 
wouldn't  have  her  otherwise.  You  know,  in  a  large 
house  like  ours,  it  is  always  well  to  have  some  steady- 
going  person  like  her  whom  one  can  put  to  anything 
that  may  turn  up. 

JoHAN.  Yes,  but  she  herself ? 

Bernick.  She  herself  ?  why  of  course  she  has  enough 
to  interest  herself  in  ;  Betty,  and  Olaf,  and  me,  you 
know.  People  should  not  think  of  themselves  first,  and 
women  least  of  all.  We  have  each  our  community, 
great  or  small,  to  support  and  work  for.  I  do  so,  at 
any  rate.  [Pointing  to  Krap,  xoho  enters  from  the  right.) 
See,  here  you  have  a  proof.  Do  yon  think  it  is  my  own 
business  I  am  occupied  with?  By  no  means.  [Quickly 
^oKrap.)     Well? 

Krap  [whispers,  showing  him  a  bundle  of  papers).  All 
the  arrangements  for  the  purchase  are  complete. 

Bernick.  Capital !  first-rate  ! — Oh,  Johan,  you  must 
excuse  me  for  a  moment.  [Low,  and  with  a  pressure  of 
the  hand.)  Thanks,  thanks,  Johan,  and  be  sure  that 
anything  I  can  do  to  serve  you — you  understand — Come, 
Mr.  Krap  !     [They  go  into  the  Consid's  office.) 

Johan  [looks  after  him  for  some  time).     H'm !  [He 

turns  to  go  down  the  garden.  At  the  same  moment  Mab- 
12     , 


54  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

THA  enters  from  the  right  with  a  little  basket  on  her  arm.) 
Ah,  Martha? 

]VL\RTHA.  Oh — Johan — is  it  you  ? 

JoHAN.  Havg  you  been  out  so  early,  too  ? 

Martha.  Yes.  Wait  a  little  ;  the  others  will  be  here 
soon.     [Tu7'ns  to  go  out  to  the  left.) 

Johan.  I  say,  Martha,  why  are  you  always  in  such  a 
hurry  ? 

IMartha.  I? 

Johan.  Yesterday  you  kept  out  of  the  way  so  that  I 
couldn't  get  a  word  with  you,  and  to-day 

Martha.  Yes,  but 

Johan.  Before,  we  were  always  together,  we  two  old 
play-fellows. 

Martha.  Ah,  Johan,  that  is  many,  many  years  ago. 

Johan.  Why,  bless  me,  it's  fifteen  years  ago,  neither 
more  nor  less.  Perhaps  you  think  I  have  changed  a 
great  deal ? 

Martha.  You  ?     Oh,  yes,  you  too,  although 

Johan.  What  do  you  mean  ? 

Martha.  Oh,  nothing. 

Johan.  You  don't  seem  overjoyed  to  see  me  again. 

Martha.  I  have  waited  so  long,  Johan — too  long. 

Johan.  Waited  ?    For  me  to  come  ? 

Martha.  Yes. 

Johan.  And  why  did  you  think  I  would  come  ? 

Martha.  To  expiate  where  you  had  sinned. 

Johan.  I? 

Martha.  Have  you  forgotten  that  a  woman  died  in 
shame  aud  need  for  your  sake?  Have  you  forgotten 
that  by  your  fault  a  young  girl's  best  years  have  been 
embittered  ? 


TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  oo 

JoHAN.  And  I  must  hear  this  from  you  ?  Martha,  has 
your  brother  never ? 

j\Iartha.  What  of  him  ? 

JoHAN.  Has  he  never ;  oh,  I  mean  has  he  never 

even  said  a  word  in  my  defence  ? 

Maktha.  Ah,  Johan,  you  know  Ivarsten's  strict  prin- 
ciples. 

JoHAN.  H'm — of  course,   of  course — yes,  I  know  my 

old  friend  Ivarsten's  strict  principles.     But  this  is ! 

Well,  Avell — I  have  just  been  talking  to  him.  It  seems 
to  me  he  has  changed  a  good  deal. 

IMartha.  How  can  you  say  so  ?  Karsteu  has  always 
been  an  excellent  man. 

Johan.  That  wasn't  exactly  what  I  meant ;  but  let  that 
pass.  H'm  ;  now  I  understand  the  light  you  have  sevan 
me  in  ;  it  is  the  prodigal's  return  that  you  have  been 
waiting  for. 

Martha.  Listen,  Johan,  and  I  shall  tell  you  in  what 
light  I  have  seen  you.  (Points  down  to  the  garden  )  Do 
you  see  that  girl  playing  in  the  grass  with  Olaf  ?  That 
is  Dina.  Do  you  remember  that  confused  letter  you 
wrote  me  when  you  went  away  ?  You  told  me  to  believe 
in  you.  I  have  believed  in  you,  Johan.  All  the  bad 
things  that  there  were  rumors  of  afterward  must  have 
been  done  in  desperation,  without  thought,  without  pur. 
pose . 

Johan.  What  do  you  mean  ? 

Marth.\.  Oh,  you  understand  me  well  enough  •,  no 
more  of  that.  But  you  had  to  go  away — to  begin  afresh 
— a  new  life.  See,  Johan,  I  have  stood  in  your  place 
here,  I,  your  old  playfellow.  The  duties  you  forgot,  or 
could  not  look  to,  I  performed  for  you.     I  tell  you  this 


56  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

so  that  you  may  not  have  this  to  reproach  yourself 
with.  I  have  been  a  mother  to  that  much-wronged  child, 
have  brought  her  up  as  well  as  I  could 

JoHAN.  And  sacrificed  your  whole  life  in  so  doing ! 

Martha.  It  has  not  been  thrown  away.  But  you  have 
been  long  of  coming,  Johan. 

JoHAN.  Martha — if  I  could  say  to  you Well,  let  me 

at  any  rate  thank  you  for  your  faithful  friendship. 

Martha  {smiling  sadly).  H'm — well,  now  we  have  made 
a  clean  breast  of  it,  Johan.     Hush,  here  comes  some  one. 

Good-by  ;    I  don't  want  them  to {She  goes  out 

through  the  farthest  hack  door  to  the  left.) 

LoNA  Hesskl  comes  from  the  garden,  followed  hy  Mrs. 
Bernick, 

Mrs.  Bernick  {still  in  the  garden).  Good  heavens,  what 
can  you  be  thinking  of  ? 

LoNA.  Let  me  alone,  I  tell  you  ;  I  must  and  will  talk 
to  him. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Think  of  the  scandal  it  would  be  !  Ah, 
Johan,  are  you  still  here  ? 

LoNA.  Out  with  you,  boy  ;  don't  hang  about  indoors 
in  the  stuffy  rooms  ;  go  down  the  garden  and  talk  to 
Dina. 

Johan.  That's  just  what  I  was  thinking  of  doing. 

IMrs.  Bernick.  But 

LoNA.  Listen,  Johan  ;  have  you  ever  looked  rightly  at 
Dina? 

Johan.  Yes,  I  should  think  I  bad, 

LoNA.  Well,  you  should  look  at  her  to  some  pui'pose. 
She's  the  very  thing  for  you. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  57 

Mks.  Bernick.  But,  Lona • 

JoHAN.  The  thing  for  me? 

Lona.  Yes  ;  to  look  at,  I  mean.     Now  go  ! 

JoHAN.  Yes,  yes,  I  don't  need  any  driving.  {He  goes 
down  the  garden.) 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Lona,  you  amaze  me.  You  can't  possi- 
bly be  in  earnest. 

LoNA.  Yes,  indeed  I  am.  Isn't  she  fresh,  and  sound, 
and  true?  She  is  just  the  wife  for  John.  She's  the 
sort  of  companion  he  needs  over  there  ;  something  dif- 
ferent from  an  old  step-sister. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Dina !  Dina  Dorf  !  Consider  a  lit- 
tle  ! 

Lona.  I  consider  first  and  foremost  the  boy's  happi- 
ness. Help  him  I  must  and  will ;  he  is  no  hand  at  such 
things  ;  he  has  never  had  much  of  an  eye  for  women. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  He  ?  Johan !  Why,  haven't  we  sad 
cause  to  know  that 

Lona.  Oh,  don't  talk  of  that  foolish  story  !  Where  is 
Bernick  ?     I  want  to  speak  to  him. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Lona,  you  must  not  do  it,  I  tell  you  ! 

LoNA.  I  shall  do  it.  If  the  boy  likes  her,  and  she  him, 
why  then  they  shall  have  each  other.  Bernick  is  such  a 
clever  man  ;  he  must  manage  the  thing 

]\Irs.  Bernick.  And  you  think  that  these  American  im- 
proprieties will  be  tolerated  here 

Lona.  Nonsense,  Betty 

Mrs.  Bernick.  That  a  man  like  Karsten,  with  his 
strict  moral  ideas 

Lona.  Oh,  come  now,  surely  they're  not  so  unreason- 
ably strict. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  What  do  you  dare  to  say  ? 


58  TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

LoNA.  I  dare  to  say  that  I  don't  believe  Bernick  is  very 
much  more  moral  than  other  men. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Is  your  hatred  for  him  still  so  deep- 
rooted?     But  what  do  you  want  here,   since  3'ou  have 

never  been  able  to  forget  that ?     I  can't  understand 

how  you  dare  look  him  in  the  face,  after  the  shameful 
way  you  insulted  him, 

LoNA.  Yes,  Betty,  I  forgot  myself  terribly  that  time. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  And  how  nobly  he  has  forgiven  you — 
he,  who  had  done  no  wrong.  For  he  couldn't  help  your 
foolish  fancies.  But  since  that  time  you  have  hated  me 
too.  (Bursts  into  tears.)  You  have  always  envied  me  my 
happiness  ;  and  now  you  come  here  to  heap  this  trouble 
upon  me ;  to  show  the  town  what  sort  of  a  family  I  have 
brought  Karsten  into.  Yes,  it  is  I  that  have  to  suffer 
for  it  all,  and  that  is  what  you  want.  Oh,  it  is  cruel  of 
you  !  [She  goes  out  crying  through  the  farthest  hack  door 
to  the  left.) 

LoNA  {looking  after  her).  Poor  Betty  ! 

Consul  Bernick  comes  out  of  his  office. 

Bernick  (still  at  the  door).  Yes,  yes,  that  is  well,  Krap  ; 
that  is  excellent.  Send  four  hundred  crowns  for  a  din- 
ner to  the  poor.  (Turns.)  Lona !  (Coming  nearer.) 
You  are  alone  ?     Isn't  Betty  hei'e  ? 

LoNA.  No.     Shall  I  fetch  her  ? 

Bernick.  No,  no  ;  do  not.  Oh,  Lona,  you  do  not 
know  how  I  have  burned  to  talk  openly  with  you — to 
beg  your  forgiveness. 

LoNA.  Now  listen,  Karsten  ;  don't  let  us  get  senti- 
mental.    It  doesn't  suit  us. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  59 

Bernick.  You  shall  bear  me,  Lona.  I  know  very  well 
how  much  appearances  are  against  me,  since  you  know  all 
that  about  Dina's  mother.  But  I  swear  to  you  that  it 
was  only  a  short  madness  ;  at  one  time  I  really,  truly, 
and  honestly  loved  you. 

Lona.  What  do  you  think  has  brought  me  home  just 
now? 

Bernick.  Whatever  you  are  intending,  I  implore  you 
to  do  nothing  before  I  have  justified  myself.  I  can  do 
it,  Lona  ;  at  least  I  can  show  that  I  was  not  altogether 
to  blame. 

LoN.\.  Now  you  are  frightened.  You  once  loved  me, 
you  say.  Yes,  you  assured  me  so,  often  enough  in  your 
letters  ;  and  perhaps  it  was  true,  too,  after  a  fashion,  so 
long  as  you  were  living  out  there  in  a  great,  free  world, 
that  gave  you  courage  to  think  freely  and  greatly  your- 
self. You,  perhaps,  found  in  me  a  little  more  character, 
and  will,  and  independence  than  in  most  people  at  home 
here.  And  then  it  was  a  secret  between  us  two  ;  no  one 
could  make  fun  of  your  bad  taste. 

Bernick.  Lona,  how  can  you  think ? 

Lona.  But  when  you  came  home,  when  you  saw  the 
ridicule  that  poured  down  upon  me,  when  you  heard 
the  laughter  at  what  were  called  my  eccentricities 

Bernick.  You  were  extravagant  then. 

Lona.  Principally  for  the  sake  of  annoying  the  prudes, 
both  in  trousers  and  petticoats,  that  infested  the  town. 
And  then  you  met  that  fascinating  young  actress 

Bernick.  The  whole  thing  was  a  piece  of  foll}^ — noth- 
ing more.  I  swear  to  you,  not  a  tithe  of  the  scandal 
and  tittle-tattle  was  true. 

Lona.   Perhaps   so ;  but   then   Betty   came   home  — 


60  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

young,  beautiful,  idolized  by  everyone — and  when  it  be« 
came  known  that  she  was  to  have  all  our  aunt's  money 
and  I  nothing 

Bernick.  Yes,  here  we  are  at  the  root  of  the  mattei', 
Lona  ;  and  now  you  shall  hear  the  square  truth.  I  did 
not  love  Betty  ;  it  was  for  no  new  fancy  that  I  broke 
with  you ;  it  was  entirely  for  the  sake  of  the  money.  I 
was  forced  to  do  it ;  I  had  to  make  sure  of  the  money. 

Lona.  And  you  tell  me  this  to  my  face ! 

Bernick.  Yes,  I  do.     Hear  me,  Lona ! 

Lona.  And  yet  you  wrote  me  that  an  unconquerable 
love  for  Betty  had  seized  you,  appealed  to  my  magna- 
nimity, conjured  me  for  Betty's  sake  to  say  nothing  of 
what  had  passed  between  us 

Bernick.  I  had  to,  I  tell  you. 

Lona.  Now,  by  all  that's  holy,  I  don't  regret  having 
forgotten  myself  as  I  did  that  day. 

Bernick.  Let  me  tell  you,  calmly  and  quietly,  what 
my  position  was  at  that  time.  My  mother,  you  know, 
stood  at  the  head  of  the  business  ;  but  she  had  no  busi- 
ness ability.  I  was  called  home  quickly  from  Paris  ;  the 
times  were  critical ;  I  was  to  retrieve  the  situation. 
What  did  I  find  ?  I  found — what  had  to  be  kept  strictly 
fiecret — a  house  as  good  as  ruined.  Yes,  it  was  as  good 
as  ruined,  the  old,  respected  house,  that  had  stood 
through  three  generations.  What  could  I,  the  son,  the 
only  son,  do,  but  look  about  me  for  a  means  of  sav- 
ing it  ? 

Lona.  So  you  saved  the  house  of  Bernick  at  the  ex- 
pense of  a  woman. 

Bernick.  You  know  very  well  that  Betty  loved  me. 

Lona.  But  I? 


i'HE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  tJl 

Bernictr.  Believe  me,  Lona,  you  would  never  have 
been  bappy  -with  me. 

Lona.  Was  it  your  care  ior  my  liappiuess  that  made 
you  give  me  up  ? 

Bernick.  Perhaps  you  think  I  acted  from  selfish  mo- 
tives ?  If  I  had  stood  alone  ^hen,  I  would  have  begun 
the  world  again  bi-avely  and  cheerfully.  But  you  don't 
understand  how  the  head  of  a  great  house  becomes  a  liv- 
ing part  of  the  business  he  inherits,  with  its  enormous 
responsibility.  Do  you  know  that  the  weal  and  woe  of 
hundreds,  ay,  of  thousands,  depends  upon  him  ?  Can 
you  not  consider  that  the  whole  community,  which  both 
you  and  I  call  our  home,  would  have  suffered  deeply  if 
the  house  of  Bernick  had  fallen  ? 

Lona.  Is  it  for  the  sake  of  the  community,  then,  that 
for  these  fifteen  years  you  have  stood  upon  a  lie  ? 

Bernick.  A  lie  ? 

Lona.  How  much  does  Betty  know  of  aU  that  liesj  be- 
neath and  before  her  marriage  with  you  ? 

Bernick.  Can  you  think  that  I  would  wound  her  to  no 
purpose  by  telling  her  these  things  ? 

Lona.  To  no  purpose,  j'ou  say  ?  Well,  well,  you  are 
a  business  man  ;  you  should  understand  what  is  to  the 
purpose.  But,  listen,  Karsteu  ;  I,  too,  will  speak  calmly 
and  quietly.     Tell  me,  after  all,  are  you  really  happy  ? 

Bernick.  In  my  family  do  you  mean  ? 

Lona.  Of  course. 

Bernick.  I  am  indeed,  Lona.  Oh,  you  have  not  sacri- 
ficed yovu'self  in  vain.  I  can  say  truly  that  I  have  grown 
happier  year  by  year.  Betty  is  so  good  and  kind,  and 
in  the  course  of  j'ears  she  has  learned  to  mould  her 
character  to  what  is  peculiar  in  mine 


t)2  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

LoNA.  H'm  ! 

Bernick.  At  first,  indeed,  she  had  some  high-flown 
notions  about  love  ;  she  could  not  reconcile  herself  to 
the  thought  that,  little  by  little,  it  must  pass  over  into 
a  quiet  friendship. 

LoNA.  And  is  she  quite  reconciled  to  that  now  f 

Bernick.  Entirely.  You  may  guess  that  daily  inter- 
course with  me  has  not  been  without  a  ripening  influence 
upon  her.  People  must  learn  to  moderate  their  personal 
claims  if  they  are  to  fulfil  their  duties  iu  the  community 
in  which  they  are  placed.  Betty  has  by  degrees  come 
to  understand  this,  so  that  our  house  is  now  a  model 
for  our  fellow-citizens. 

LoNA.  But  these  fellow-citizens  know  nothing  of  the 
lie? 

Bernick.  Of  the  lie  ? 

LoNA.  Yes  ;  of  the  lie  upon  which  you  have  stood  for 
these  fifteen  years. 

Bernick.  You  call  that ? 

LoNA.  I  call  it  the  lie — the  threefold  lie.  First  the 
lie  toward  me  ;  then  the  lie  toward  Betty  ;  then  the  lie 
toward  Johan. 

Bernick.  Betty  has  never  asked  me  to  speak. 

LoNA.  Because  she  has  known  nothing. 

Bernick.  And  you  will  not  ask  me  to ;  out  of  consider- 
ation for  her  you  will  not. 

LoNA.  Oh,  no  ;  I  dare  say  I  shall  manage  to  bear  all 
the  ridicule  ;  I  have  a  broad  back. 

Bernick.  And  Johan  will  not  ask  me  either — he  has 
promised  me  that. 

LoNA.  But  you,  yourself,  Karsten  ;  is  there  not  some- 
thing within  you  that  longs  to  get  clear  of  the  lie  ? 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  68 

Bernicr.  You  would  Lave  me  voluntarily  sacrifice  my 
domestic  hapjiiness,  and  my  position  in  society  ? 

LoNA.  What  right  have  you  to  stand  where  you  are 
standing  ? 

Bernick.  For  fifteen  years  I  have  every  day  gained 
more  and  more  right — by  my  whole  life,  by  all  I  have 
labored  for,  by  all  I  have  achieved. 

LoNA.  Yes,  you  have  labored  for  much  and  achieved 
much,  both  for  yourself  and  others.  You  are  the  richest 
and  most  powerful  man  in  the  town  ;  they  have  to  bow 
before  3'our  will,  all  of  them,  because  you  are  held  to  be 
without  stain  or  flaw — your  home  is  held  to  be  a  model, 
your  life  a  model.  But  all  this  eminence,  and  you  your- 
self along  with  it,  stand  on  a  trembling  quicksand  ;  a 
moment  may  come,  a  word  may  be  spoken,  and,  if  you 
do  not  save  yourself  in  time,  you  and  your  whole  gran- 
deur go  to  the  bottom. 

Bernick.  Lona,  what  did  you  come  here  to  do? 

LoNA.  To  help  you  to  get  firm  ground  under  your 
feet,  Karsten. 

Bernick.  Revenge  !  You  want  to  revenge  yourself. 
I  thought  so  long  ago.  But  you  cannot  do  it.  There 
is  only  one  who  has  a  right  to  speak,  and  he  is  silent. 

Lona.  Johan  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  Johau.  If  anyone  else  accuses  me,  I 
shall  deny  all.  If  \o\x  try  to  crush  me,  I  shall  fight  for 
my  life.  But  I  tell  you  you  will  never  succeed.  He 
who  could  destroy  me  will  not  speak — and  he  is  going 
away  again. 

Rummel  and  Vigeland  enter  from  the  right. 

RuMMEL.  Good-day,  good-day,  my  dear  Bernick  ;  you 


64  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

must  come  with  us  to  the  trade  council.  We  have  a 
meeting  on  the  subject  of  the  railway,  you  know, 

Bernick.  I  cannot ;  it  is  impossible  just  now. 

ViGELAND.  You  really  must,  Consul. 

RuMMEL.  You  must,  Bernick.  There  are  people  work- 
ing against  us.  Editor  Hammer  and  the  others  who 
went  for  the  coast  line  declare  that  there  are  private 
interests  iiidden  behind  the  new  proposal. 

Bernick.  Why,  then,  explain  to  them 

ViGELAND.  It  does  iio  good  explaining  to  them,  Consul. 

RuMMEL.  No,  no,  you  must  come  yourself.  Of  course 
no  one  will  dare  to  suspect  you  of  anything  of  that  sort. 

LoNA.  No,  I  should  think  not. 

Bernick.  I  cannot,  I  tell  you  ;  I  am  unwell ; — or  at 
any  rate  wait — let  me  collect  myself. 

Rector  Rorlund  enters  from  the  right. 

RoRLUND.  Excuse  me.  Consul ;  you  see  me  most  pain- 
fully agitated 

Bernick.  Well,  well,  what  is  the  matter  with  you  ? 

Rorlund.  I  must  ask  you  a  question,  Consul.  Is  it 
with  your  consent  that  the  young  girl  who  has  found  an 
asylum  under  your  roof  shows  herself  in  the  public 
streets  in  company  with  a  person  whom 

LoNA.  What  person.  Pastor  ? 

Rorlund.  With  the  person  from  whom,  of  all  others 
in  the  world,  she  should  be  kept  farthest  apart. 

LoNA.  Ho !  ho  ! 

Rorlund.  Is  it  with  your  consent,  Consul  ? 

Bernick.  I  know  nothing  about  it.  {Looking  for  his 
hat  and  gloves.)  Excuse  me  ;  I  am  in  a  hurry;  I  am 
going  up  to  the  trade  council. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  65 

HiLMAR  {comes  from  the  garden  and  goes  over  io  iht-- 
farthest  hack  door  to  the  left.)  Betty,  Betty,  come  here ! 

Mrs.  Bernick  {at  the  door).   What  is  it  ? 

HiLMAR.  You  must  go  down  the  garden  and  put  an 
end  to  the  flirtation  which  a  certain  person  is  carrying 
on  with  that  Dina  Dorf.  It  has  made  me  quite  nervous 
to  listen  to  it. 

LoNA.  Indeed  ?    What  did  the  certain  pex'son  say  ? 

HiLMAR.  Oh,  only  that  he  wants  hex  to  go  with  him  to 
America.     Ugh  ! 

RoRLUND.  Can  such  things  be  possible  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.    miat  do  you  say  ? 

LoNA.   Why,  that  would  be  capital. 

Bernick.  Impossible  !     You  have  made  a  mistake. 

HiLMAR.  Then  ask  himself.  Here  comes  the  couple. 
Only  let  me  be  out  of  the  business. 

Bernick  {to  Rummel  and  Vigeland).  I  shall  follow  you 
— in  a  moment 

Rummel  and  Vigeland  go  out  to  the  right.     Johan  Tonnei- 
sen  and  Dina  come  in  from  the  garden. 

Johan.  Hurrah,  Lona,  she  is  coming  with  us ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Oh,  Johan — how  can  you ! 

RoRLiiND.  Can  this  be  true  ?  Such  a  crying  scandal ! 
By  what  arts  of  seduction  have  you ? 

Johan.  What,  what,  man?  what  are  you  saying? 

RoRLUND.  Answer  me,  Dina  ;  is  this  your  intention — 
is  it  your  full  and  free  determination  ? 

Dina.  I  must  get  away  from  here. 

RoRLUND.  But  with  him — with  him? 

Dina.  Tell  me  of  anyone  else  that  has  courage  to  set 
me  free  ? 


Q6  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCTETY. 

RoRLUND.  Then  I  must  let  you  know  who  he  is. 

JoHAN.  Be  silent ! 

Bernick.  Not  a  word  more  ! 

RoRLUND.  Then  I  should  ill  serve  the  community  over 
whose  manners  and  morals  I  am  placed  as  a  guardian  ; 
and  I  should  act  most  indefensibly  toward  this  young 
gill,  in  whose  training  I  too  have  had  an  important 
part,  and  who  is  to  me 

JoHAN.  Take  care  what  you  are  doing  ! 

RoRLUND.  She  shall  know  it !  Dina,  it  was  this  man 
who  caused  all  your  mother's  misfortune  and  shame. 

Bernick,  Rector ! 

Dina.  He!     {To  Johan.)     Is  this  true? 

JoHAN.  Karsten,  you  answer  ! 

Bernick.  Not  a  word  more  !     Not  a  word  more  to-day. 

Dina.  Then  it  is  true. 

RoRLUND.  True,  true !  and  more  than  that.  This 
person,  in  whom  you  were  about  to  place  your  trust, 
did  not  run  away  empty-handed  ; — "Widow  Bernick's 
strong  box — the  Consul  can  bear  witness  ! 

Lona.  Liar  ! 

Bernick.  Ah ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.   Oh,  God  !  oh,  God  ! 

Johan  {goes  toward  him  with  uplifted  arm).  Tou  dare 
to ! 

Lona  {keeping  him  back).  Do  not  strike  him,  Johan. 

RoRLUND.  Yes,  yes  ;  attack  me  if  you  like.  But  the 
truth  shall  out ;  and  this  is  the  truth.  Consul  Bernick 
has  said  so  himself,  and  the  whole  town  knows  it.  Now, 
Dina,  now  you  know  him.     {A  short  pause.) 

Johan  {softly,  seizing  Bernick's  arm).  Karsten,  Kars- 
ten, what  have  you  done  ? 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  ^7 

Mes.  Bernick  {softly,  in  tears).  Oh,  Karsten,  that  I 
should  bring  all  this  shame  upon  you. 

Sandstad  {comes  quickly  in  from  the  right,  and  says, 
with  his  hand  still  on  the  door-handle).  You  must  really 
come  now,  Consul !  The  whole  railway  is  hanging  by  a 
thread. 

Bernick  {absently).  What  is  it  ?     What  am  I  to ? 

LoNA  {earnestly,  and  with  emphasis).  You  are  to  rise 
and  support  society,  brother-in-law. 

Sandstad.  Yes,  come,  come  ;  we  need  all  your  moral 
predominance. 

JoHAN  {close  to  him).  Bernick,  we  two  wiU  talk  of  this 
to-morrow.  {He  goes  out  through  the  garden;  Bernick 
goes  out  to  the  right  with  Sandstad,  as  if  his  will  were 
paralyzed.) 


ACT  III. 

l^The  garden-room  in  Consul  Beenick's  house.  Bernick, 
with  a  cane  in  his  hand,  entei's,  in  a  violent  jyassion, 
from  the  farthest  hack  room  to  the  left,  leaving  the 
door  half  open  behind  him.] 

Bernick.  There  now  !  At  last  I've  done  it  in  earnest ; 
I  don't  think  he'll  forget  that  thrashing.  (To  someone  in 
the  other  room.)  What  do  you  say  ?  But  /  say  you  are 
a  foolish  mother  !  You  make  excuses  for  him,  and 
support  him  in  all  his  naughtiness.  Not  naughtiness  ? 
What  do  you  call  it  then  ?  To  steal  out  of  the  house  at 
night  and  go  to  sea  in  a  fishing-boat ;  to  remain  out  till 
late  in  the  day,  and  put  me  in  mortal  terror  (though 
goodness  knows  I've  enough  anxiety  without  that).  And 
the  young  rascal  dares  to  threaten  me  with  running 
away !  Just  let  him  try  it !  You  ?  No,  I  dare  say  not ; 
you  don't   seem  to  care  much  what  becomes  of  him.     I 

believe  if  he  were  to  get  killed !     Oh,  indeed  ;  but 

I  have  work  to  leave  behind  me  here  in  the  world.  I 
can't  afford  to  be  left  childless.  Don't  argue,  Betty,  it 
must  be  as  I  say  ;  he  must  be  kept  in  the  house. 
(Listens.)     Hush,  don't  let  people  notice  anything. 

Krap  comes  in  from,  the  right. 

Krap.  Can  you  spare  me  a  moment.  Consul  ? 
Bernick  (throws  aivay  the  cane).  Of  course,  of  course  ; 
have  you  come  from  the  yard  ? 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  69 

Krap.  Just  this  momeni     H'm ! 


Bernick.  Well  ?  There's  nothing  wrong  with  the  Palm 
Tree  I  hope  ? 

Krap.  The  Palm  Tree  can  sail  to-morrow,  but 

Bernick.  The  Indian  Girl,  then  ?  I  might  have  guessed 
that  that  stiff-necked 

Krap.  The  Indian  Girl  can  sail  to-morrow,  too  ;  but — 
I  don't  think  she'll  get  very  far. 

Bernick.  What  do  you  mean  ? 

Krap.  Excuse  me.  Consul ;  that  door  is  ajar,  and  I 
think  there  is  someone  in  the  room. 

Bernick  [shuts  the  door).  There  now.  But  what  is  the 
meaning  of  all  this  secrecy  ? 

Krap.  It  means  this  :  that  I  believe  Aune  intends  to 
send  the  Indian  Girl  to  the  bottom,  with  every  soul  on 
board. 

Bernick.  Good  heavens  !  how  can  you  think ? 

Krap.  I  cannot  explain  it  any  other  way,  Consul. 

Bernick.  Well  then,  tell  me  in  as  few  words  as 

Krap.  I  shall.  You  know  how  slowly  things  have 
been  going  in  the  yard  since  we  got  the  new  machines 
and  the  new  inexperienced  workmen  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  yes. 

Krap.  But  this  morning,  when  I  went  down  there,  I 
noticed  that  the  repairs  on  the  American  had  been  going 
at  a  great  rate.  The  big  patch  in  her  bottom — the 
rotten  place,  you  know 

Bernick.  Yes,  yes!  what  of  it? 

Krap.     It  was  completely   repaired — to   all    appear- 
ance ;  covered  over  ;  looked  as  good  as  new.     I  heard 
that  Aune  himself  had  been  working  at  it  by  lantern- 
light  the  whole  night  through. 
13 


70  THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY. 

33ERNICK.   Yes,  yes,  and  then ? 

Krap.  I  went  and  examined  it ;  the  workmen  had  just 
gone  to  their  breakfast,  so  I  was  able  to  look  about  un- 
noticed, both  outside  and  inside.  It  was  difficult  to  get 
down  into  the  hold,  as  she  is  loaded.  There  is  rascality 
at  work.  Consul. 

Bernick.  I  cannot  believe  it,  Krap.  I  cannot  and  will 
not  believe  such  a  thing  of  Aune. 

Keap.  I  am  sorry  for  it,  but  it  is  the  plain  truth. 
There  is  rascality  at  work,  I  say.  There  was  no  new 
timber  put  in,  so  far  as  I  could  see.  It  was  only  botched 
and  puttied  up,  and  covered  with  tarpaulins,  and  so  forth. 
All  bogus  !  The  Indian  Girl  will  never  get  to  New  York. 
She'll  go  to  the  bottom  like  a  cracked  pot. 

Bernick.  But  this  is  horrible !  What  do  you  think 
can  be  his  motive  ? 

Krap.  He  probably  wants  to  bring  the  machines  into 
discredit ;  wants  to  revenge  himself  ;  wants  to  have  the 
old  workmen  taken  on  again. 

Bernick.  And  for  that  he  would  sacrifice  all  these  lives? 

Krap.  He  has  been  heard  to  say  that  there  are  no  men 
on  board  the  Indian  Girl — only  beasts. 

Bernick.  Yes,  yes,  that  may  be  ;  but  does  he  not  think 
of  the  immense  capital  that  will  be  lost? 

Krap.  Aune  doesn't  regard  immense  capital  with  a  very 
friendly  eye,  Consul. 

Bernick.  True  enough  ;  he  is  an  agitator  and  spreader 
of  discontent  ;  but  such  a  piece  of  villany  as  this  !  Listen, 
Krap  ;  this  affair  must  be  examined  into  again.  Not  a 
word  of  it  to  any  one.  Our  yard  would  fall  into  bad  re- 
pute if  people  got  to  know  anything  of  this  sort. 

Kbap.  O!  course,  but 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOClEl  T.  71 

Beknick.  During  the  dinner  hour  you  must  go  down 
there  again  ;  I  must  have  perfect  certainty. 

Krap.  You  shall,  Consul  ;  but,  excuse  me,  what  will 
you  do  then  ? 

Bernick.  Why,  report  the  case,  of  course.  "We  cannot 
make  ourselves  accessories  to  a  crime.  I  must  keep  my 
conscience  unspotted.  Besides,  it  will  make  a  good  im- 
pression on  both  the  press  and  the  public  at  large  when 
they  see  that  I  set  aside  all  personal  considerations  and 
let  justice  take  its  course. 

I{jL\p.  Very  true,  Consul. 

Bernick.  But,  first  of  all,  perfect  certainty — and,  until 
then,  silence 

Kr.^p.  Not  a  woi'd,  Consul ;  and  you  shall  have  abso- 
lute certainty.  {He  goes  out  through  the  garden  and  down 
the  street. ) 

Bernick  {half  aloud).  Horrible!  But  no,  it  is  impos- 
sible— inconceivable  ! 

As  he  turns  to  go  to  his  own  room  Hilmar  Tonnesen  enters 
from  the  right. 

HrLMAR.  Good- day,  Bernick  !  Well,  I  congratulate 
you  on  your  field-day  in  the  trade  council  yesterday. 

Bernick.  Oh,  thanks. 

HiLMAR.  It  was  a  brilliant  victory,  I  hear,  the  victory 
of  intelligent  public  spirit  over  self-interest  and  prejudice 
— like  a  French  razzia  upon  the  Kabyles.  Strange,  that 
after  the  unpleasant  scene  here,  you 

Bernick.  Yes,  yes,  don't  speak  of  it. 

HiLMAR.  But  the  tug  of  war  is  to  come  yet. 

Bernick.  In  the  matter  of  the  railway,  you  mean  ? 


72  THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY. 

HiLMAK.  Yes,  I  suppose  you  have  heard  of  the  egg  that 
Editor  Hammer  is  hatching? 

Beknick  {anxiously).  No  !    What  is  it  ? 

HiLMAR.  Oh,  he  has  got  hold  of  the  report  that  is  going 
about,  and  is  going  to  make  an  article  of  it. 

Bernick.  What  report  ? 

HiLMAE.  Of  course,  that  about  the  great  purchase  of 
property  along  the  branch  line. 

Bernick.  What  do  you  mean  ?    Is  there  such  a  report? 

HiLMAR.  Yes,  over  the  whole  town.  I  heard  it  at  the 
club.  It  is  said  that  one  of  our  lawj'^ers  has  been  secretly 
commissioned  to  buy  up  all  the  forests,  all  the  veins  of 
ore,  all  the  water-power 

Bernick.  And  is  it  known  for  whom  ? 

HiLMAR.  At  the  club  everyone  thought  that  it  must  be 
for  a  company  from  some  other  town  that  had  got  wind 
of  your  scheme,  and  had  rushed  in  before  the  prices  rose. 
Isn't  it  mean  ?  disgraceful  ?     Ugh  ! 

Bernick.  Disgraceful? 

HiLMAR.  Yes,  that  strangers  should  trespass  on  our 
preserves  in  that  way.  And  that  one  of  our  own  lawyers 
could  lend  himself  to  anything  like  that !  Now,  all  the 
profit  will  go  to  strangers. 

Bernick.  But  this  is  only  a  vague  rumor. 

HiLMAR.  It  is  believed,  at  any  rate  ;  and  to-morrow  or 
next  day  Editor  Hammer  will,  of  course,  go  and  nail  it 
fast  as  a  fact.  Everyone  was  enraged  about  it  already 
up  there.  I  heard  several  say  that  if  this  rumor  is  con- 
firmed they  will  strike  their  names  off  the  lists. 

Bernick,  Impossible  ! 

HiLMAR.  Indeed  ?  Why  do  you  think  these  peddling 
creatures  were  so  ready  to  join  you  in  your  undertak- 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY,  73 

ing  ?     Do  you  think  tbey  weren't  themselves  hankering 

after ? 

Bernick.  Impossible,  I  say  ;  there  is  at  least  so  much 
public  spirit  in  our  little  community 

HiLMAK.  Here?  Oh,  yes,  you  are  an  optimist,  and 
judge  others  by  yourself.  But  I  am  a  pretty  keen  ob- 
server. There  is  not  a  person  here — with  the  exception 
of  ourselves,  of  course — not  one,  I  say,  who  holds  high 
the  banner  of  the  ideal.  (Up  toward  the  background.) 
Ugh,  there  they  are. 

Bernick.  Who  ? 

HiLMAR.  The  two  Americans.  (Looks  out  to  the  right.) 
And  who  is  that  they  are  with  ?  Why,  it's  the  cap  tarn 
of  the  Indian  Girl.     Ugh  ! 

Bernick.  What  can  they  want  with  him  ? 

HiLMAR.  Oh,  it's  very  appropriate  company.  They  say 
he  has  been  a  slave-dealer  or  a  pirate  ;  and  who  knows 
what  that  couple  have  turned  their  hands  to  in  all  these 
years. 

Bernick.  I  tell  you,  it  is  utterly  unjust  to  think  so  of 
them. 

HiLMAR.  Yes,  you  are  an  optimist.  But  here  we  have 
them  upon  us  again;  so  I'll  get  away  in  time.  (Goes 
toward  the  door  on  the  left.) 

LoNA  Hessel  enters  by  the  door  on  the  right. 

liONA.  What,  Hilmar,  am  I  driving  you  away  ? 

HiLMAR.  Not  at  all,  not  at  all.  I  am  in  a  great  hurry  ; 
I  have  something  to  say  to  Betty.  (Goes  out  by  the  far- 
thest  back  door  on  the  left.) 

Bernick  {after  a  short  pause).  Well,  Lona  ? 

LoNA.  Well? 


74  THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY. 

Bebnick.  What  do  you  think  of  me  to-day? 

LoNA.  The  same  as  yesterday  ;  a  lie  more  or  less \ 

Bernick.  I  must  explain  all  this.  Where  has  Johan 
gone  to? 

LoNA.  He'll  be  here  directly ;  lie  had  to  talk  to  a  man 
out  there. 

Bernick.  After  what  you  heard  yesterday,  you  can  un- 
derstand that  my  whole  position  is  ruined  if  the  truth 
comes  to  light. 

LoNA.  I  understand. 

Bernick.  Of  course  you  know  well  enough  that  /was 
not  guilty  of  the  supposed  crime. 

LoNA.  Of  course  not.     But  who  was  the  thief? 

Bernick.  There  was  no  thief.  There  was  no  money 
stolen  ;  not  a  halfpenny  was  wanting. 

LoNA.  What? 

Bernick.  Not  a  halfpenny,  I  say. 

LoNA.  But  the  rumor  ?  How  did  that  shameful 
rumor  get  abroad,  that  Johan ? 

Bernick.  Lona,  I  find  I  can  talk  to  j'ou  as  I  can  to  no 
other  person  ;  I  shall  conceal  nothing  from  you.  /had 
my  share  in  spreading  the  rumor. 

LoNA.  You !  And  3'ou  could  do  this  wrong  to  the 
man  who,  for  your  sake ? 

Bernick.  You  must  not  condemn  me  without  remem- 
bering how  matters  stood  at  the  time.  As  I  told  you 
yesterday,  I  came  home  to  find  my  mother  involved  in 
a  whole  series  of  foolish  undertakings.  Misfortunes  of 
various  kinds  followed.  It  seemed  as  if  all  possible  ill- 
luck  came  upon  us  at  once  ;  our  house  was  on  the  verge 
of  ruin.  I  was  half  reckless  and  half  in  despair,  Lona. 
I  believe  it  was  principally  to  deaden  thought  that  I  got 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  75 

into  that  entanglement  which  ended  in  Johan's  running 
away. 

LoNA.  H'm 

Bernick.  You  can  easily  imagine  how  all  sorts  of 
rumors  got  abroad  after  he  and  you  left.  It  was  said 
that  this  was  not  his  first  misdemeanor.  Some  said 
Dorf  had  received  a  large  sum  of  money  from  him  to 
keep  quiet  and  go  away  ;  others  declared  that  she  had 
got  the  money.  At  the  same  time  it  got  abroad  that  our 
house  had  difficulty  iu  meeting  its  engagements.  What 
more  natural  than  that  the  gossips  should  put  these  two 
rumoi's  together  ?  As  Madam  Dorf  remained  here  in 
unmistakable  poverty,  people  began  to  say  that  he  had 
taken  the  money  with  him  to  America,  and  rumor  made 
the  sum  larger  and  larger  every  day. 

LoNA.  And  you,  Karsten ? 

Bernick.  I  clutched  at  the  rumor  as  a  drowning 
man  clutches  at  a  straw. 

LoNA.  You  helped  to  spread  it. 

Bernick.  I  did  not  contradict  it.  Our  creditors  were 
beginning  to  press  upon  us  ;  what  I  had  to  do  was  to 
quiet  them  ;  the  great  point  was  to  keep  people  from 
suspecting  the  solidity  of  the  firm.  A  momentary  mis- 
fortune had  befallen  us,  but  if  people  only  refrained 
from  pressing  us,  if  they  would  only  give  us  time,  every- 
one could  have  his  own. 

LoNA.  And  everyone  got  his  own? 

Bernick.  Yes,  Lona,  that  rumor  saved  our  house,  and 
made  me  the  man  I  am. 

LoNA.  A  lie,  then,  has  made  you  the  man  you  are. 

Bernick.  Whom  did  it  hurt,  then  ?  Johan  intended 
never  to  i-eturn. 


7b  THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY. 

LoNA.  You  ask  whom  it  hurt.  Look  into  yourself 
and  see  if  it  has  not  hurt  you. 

Bernick.  Look  into  any  man  you  please,  and  you  will 
find  at  least  one  dark  spot  which  he  must  keep  cov- 
ered. 

LoNA,  And  you  call  yourselves  the  pillars  of  society  ! 

Bernick.  Society  has  none  better. 

LoNA.  Then  what  does  it  matter  whether  such  a  society 
is  supported  or  not  ?  What  is  it  that  passes  current 
here  ?  Lies  and  shams — nothing  else.  Here  are  you, 
the  first  man  in  the  town,  living  in  wealth  and  pride,  in 
power  and  honor,  you,  who  have  set  the  brand  of  crime 
upon  an  innocent  man. 

Bernick.  Do  you  think  I  do  not  feel  deeply  how  I 
have  wronged  him  ?  Do  you  think  I  am  not  prepared 
to  make  atonement  ? 

LoNA.  How  ?    By  speaking  out  ? 

Bernick.  Can  you  ask  such  a  thing  ? 

LoNA.  What  else  can  atone  for  such  a  wrong? 

Bernick.  I  am  rich,  Lona  ;  Johan  may  ask  what  he 
pleases 

LoNA.  Yes,  offer  him  money  and  you'll  see  what  he'll 
answer. 

Bernick.  Do  you  know  what  he  intends  to  do  ? 

LoNA.  No.  Since  yesterday  he  has  been  silent.  It 
Beems  as  if  all  this  had  suddenly  made  a  full-grown  man 
of  him. 

Bernick.  I  must  speak  to  him. 

LoNA.  Then  here  he  is. 

Johan  Tonnesen  enters  from  the  right. 
Bernick  {going  toward  him).  Johan ! 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  77 

JoHAK.  Let  me  speak  first.  Yesterday  morning  I 
gave  you  my  word  to  be  silent, 

Bernick.  You  did. 

JoHAN.  But  I  did  not  know  then 

Bernick.  Jolian,  let  me  in  two  words  explain  the  cir- 
cumstances  

JoHAN.  There  is  no  need  ;  I  understand  the  circum- 
stances very  well.  Your  house  was  then  in  a  difficult 
position  ;  and  when  I  was  no  longer  here,  and  you  had 
my  unprotected  name  and  fame  to  do  what  you  liked 

with Well,  I  don't  blame  you  so  much  for  it  ;  we 

were  young  and  heedless  in  those  days.  But  now  I  have 
need  of  the  truth,  and  now  you  must  speak  out. 

Bernick,  And  just  at  this  moment  I  need  all  my 
moral  repute,  and  so  cannot  speak  out. 

JoHAN.  I  don't  care  so  much  about  the  falsehoods  you 
have  spread  abroad  about  me  ;  it  is  the  other  thing  you 
yourself  must  take  the  blame  of.  Dina  shall  be  my 
wife,  and  I  shall  live  here,  here  in  this  town  along  with 
her. 

LoNA.  You  will  ? 

Bernick.  With  Dina  !  As  your  wife  ?  Here  in  this 
town  ? 

JoHAN.  Yes,  just  here  ;  I  shall  remain  here  to  defy  all 
these  liars  and  backbiters.  And  that  I  may  win  her,  you 
must  set  me  free. 

Bernick.  Have  you  considered  that  to  admit  the  one 
thing  is  to  admit  the  other  as  well  ?  You  may  say  that 
I  can  prove  by  our  books  that  there  was  no  robbery  at 
all.  But  I  cannot ;  our  books  weren't  kept  so  exactly  at 
that  time.  And  even  if  I  could,  what  would  be  gained 
by  it?     Should  I  not,  at  best,  appear  as  the  man  who 


78  TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

had  once  saved  himself  by  a  falsehood,  and  who  for  fif- 
teen years  had  let  that  falsehood,  and  all  its  conse- 
quences, stand  untouched,  without  saying  a  word  against 
it?  You  have  forgotten  what  our  society  is,  or  you 
would  know  that  that  would  crush  me  to  the  very 
dust. 

JoHAN.  I  can  only  repeat  to  you  that  I  shall  make 
Madam  Dorf's  daughter  my  wife,  and  live  with  her  here 
in  the  town. 

Bernick  {wipes  the  perspiration  from  his  forehead). 
Hear  me,  Johan — and  you,  too,  Lona.  The  circum- 
stances in  which  I  am  placed  at  this  moment  are  not  or- 
dinary ones.  I  am  so  situated,  that  if  you  strike  this 
blow  you  ruin  me  utterly,  and  not  only  me,  but  also  a 
great  and  blessed  future  for  the  community  which  was 
the  home  of  your  childhood. 

Johan.  And  if  I  do  not  strike  the  blow,  I  destroy  the 
whole  happiness  of  my  future  life. 

LiONA.  Go  on,  Karsten. 

Bernick.  Then  listen.  It  all  arises  fwm  this  affair  of 
the  railway,  and  that  is  not  so  simple  as  you  think. 
You  have,  of  course,  heard  that  last  year  there  was  a 
talk  of  a  coast-line  ?  It  had  many  and  powerful  advo- 
cates in  the  town  and  neighborhood,  and  especially  in 
the  press  ;  but  I  got  it  shelved,  because  it  would  have 
injured  our  steamboat  trade  along  the  coast. 

Lona.  Have  you  an  interest  in  this  steamboat  trade  ? 

Bernick.  Yes.  But  no  one  dared  to  suspect  me  on 
that  account.  My  honored  name  was  an  ample  safe- 
guard. For  that  matter,  I  could  have  borne  the  loss  ; 
but  the  town  could  not  have  borne  it.  Then  the  inland 
hne  was  determined  on.      When    that   was   settled,   I 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  79 

assured  myself  secretly  that  a  branch  line  could  be  con- 
structed down  to  the  town. 

LoNA.  Why  secretl}',  Karsten? 

Bernick.  Have  you  heard  any  talk  of  the  great  buying- 
up  of  forests,  mines,  and  water-power? 

JoH.\N.  Yes,  for  a  company  in  some  other  town 

Bernick.  As  these  j^roperties  now  lie  they  are  as  good 
as  worthless  to  their  scattered  owners  ;  so  they  have 
been  sold  comparatively  cheap.  If  the  buyer  had  waited 
until  the  branch  line  was  generally  spoken  of,  the 
holders  would  have  demanded  fancy  prices. 

LoNA.  Very  likely  ;  but  what  then  ? 

Beknick.  Now  comes  the  point  which  may  or  may  not 
be  interpreted  favorably — a  thing  which  no  man  in  our 
community  could  risk,  unless  he  had  a  spotless  and 
honored  name  to  rely  upon. 

LoxA.  Well? 

Bernick.  It  is  I  who  have  bought  the  whole. 

LoNA.  You? 

JoHAN.   On  your  own  account  ? 

Bernick.  On  my  own  account.  If  the  branch  line  is 
made,  I  am  a  millionnaire  ;  if  it  is  not  made,  I  am  ruined. 

LoNA,  This  is  a  great  risk,  Karsten. 

Bernick.  I  have  staked  all  I  possess  upon  the  throw. 

LoNA.  I  was  not  thinking  of  the  money  ;  but  when  it 
is  known  that 

Bernick.  Yes,  that  is  the  great  point.  With  the 
spotless  name  I  have  hitherto  borne  I  can  take  "the 
whole  affair  upon  my  shoulders  and  caiTy  it  through, 
saying  to  my  fellow-citizens,  "  See,  this  I  have  dared  for 
the  good  of  the  community  ! " 

LoNA.  Of  the  community  ? 


80  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Beenick.  Yes  ;  and  not  one  will  question  my  motivea 

LoNA.  Then,  after  all,  there  are  men  here  who  have 
acted  more  openly  than  you,  with  no  concealed  motives, 
without  private  considerations. 

Bernick.  Who  ? 

LoNA.  Wh}^  of  course,  Kummel  and  Sandstad  and 
Vigeland. 

Bernick.  To  gain  them  over  I  had  to  let  them  into 
the  secret. 

LoNA.  And  then? 

Bernick.  They  have  stipulated  for  a  fifth  of  the  profits 
to  be  divided  between  them. 

LoNA.  Oh,  these  pillars  of  society  ! 

Bernick.  Don't  you  see  that  it  is  society  itself  that 
forces  us  into  these  subterfuges?  What  would  have 
hapiDened  if  I  had  not  acted  secretly  ?  Why,  everyone 
would  have  thrown  himself  into  the  undertaking,  and 
the  whole  thing  would  have  been  bi'oken  up,  divided, 
bungled,  and  spoiled.  There  is  not  a  single  man  in  the 
town  here,  except  myself,  that  knows  how  to  manage  an 
enormous  concern  such  as  this  will  become  ;  in  this 
country  the  men  of  real  business  ability  are  almost  all 
of  foreign  origin.  That  is  why  my  conscience  acquits 
me  in  this  matter.  Only  in  my  hands  can  all  these 
properties  become  a  lasting  benefit  to  the  many  who 
will  make  their  bread  out  of  them. 

LoNA.  I  believe  you  are  right  there,  Karsten. 

JoHAN.  But  I  know  nothing  of  "the  many,"  and  my 
life's  happiness  is  at  stake. 

Bernick.  The  welfare  of  your  native  place  is  also  at 
stake.  If  things  come  to  the  surface  which  cast  a  slur 
upon  my  former  conduct,   all   my  opponents  will  fall 


THE  PILLARS  OF  80GIBTY.  81 

upon  me  with  united  strength  A  boyish  error  is  never 
atoned  for  in  our  society.  People  will  go  over  my 
whole  life  during  the  interval,  will  rake  up  a  thousand 
little  circumstances,  and  explain  and  interpret  them  in 
the  light  of  what  has  been  discovered  ;  they  will  crush 
me  beneath  the  weight  of  rumors  and  slanders.  I  shall 
have  to  retire  from  the  railway  affairs  ;  and  if  I  take  my 
hand  away  the  whole  thing  will  fall  to  pieces,  and  I  shall 
lose  both  my  fortune  and,  as  it  were,  my  social  life. 

LoNA.  Johan,  after  what  you  have  heard  you  must  be 
silent  and  go  away. 

Bernick.  Yes,  yes,  Johan,  you  must. 

Johan.  Yes,  I  shall  go  away,  and  be  silent  too  ;  but  I 
shall  come  back  again,  and  then  I  shall  speak. 

Bernick.  Remain  over  there,  Johan  ;  be  silent,  and  I 
am  ready  to  share  with  ^^ou 

Johan.  Keep  your  money,  and  give  me  back  my  name 
and  fame. 

Bernick.  And  sacrifice  my  own ! 

Johan.  You  and  your  society  must  settle  that !  I 
must  and  shall  win  Dina  for  myself.  So  I  shall  sail  to- 
morrow with  the  Indian  Girl. 

Bernick.  With  the  Indian  Girl? 

Johan.  Yes  ;  the  captain  has  promised  to  take  me.  I 
shall  go  over,  I  tell  you ;  I  shall  sell  my  fann,  and 
arrange  my  affairs.  In  two  months  I  shall  be  back 
again. 

Bernick.  And  then  you  will  tell  all  ? 

Johan.  Then  the  guilty  one  must  take  the  guilt  upon 
himself. 

Bernick.  Do  you  forget  that  I  must  also  take  upon 
me  guilt  which  is  not  mine  ? 


82  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

JoHAN.  Who  was  it  that,  fifteen  years  ago,  reaped  the 
benefit  of  that  slander  ? 

Bermck.  You  di'ive  me  to  desperation !  But,  if  you 
speak,  I  shall  deny  all !  I  shall  say  it  is  a  conspiracy 
against  me  ;  a  piece  of  revenge  ;  that  you  have  come 
here  to  blackmail  me  ! 

LoNA.  Shame  on  you,  Ivarsten  ! 

Bernick.  I  am  desperate,  I  tell  you  ;  I  am  fighting  for 
my  life.     I  shall  deny  all,  all ! 

JoHAN.  I  have  your  two  letters.  I  found  them  in  my 
box  among  my  other  papers.  I  read  them  through  this 
morning  ;  they  are  plain  enough. 

Beknick.  And  you  will  produce  them  ? 

JoHAN.  If  you  force  me. 

Bernick.  And  in  two  months  you  will  be  here  again  ? 

JoHAN.  I  hope  so.  The  wind  is  good.  In  three  weeks 
I  shall  be  in  New  York,  if  the  Indian  Girl  doesn't  go  to 
the  bottom. 

Bernick  {starting).  Go  to  the  bottom  ?  Why  should 
the  Indian  Girl  go  to  the  bottom  ? 

JoHAN.  That's  just  what  I  say. 

Bernick  (almost  inaudlblij).   Go  to  the  bottom  ? 

JoH.\N.  Well,  Bernick,  now  you  know  what  you  have 
to  expect ;  you  must  do  what  you  can  in  the  meantime. 
Good-by  !  Give  my  love  to  Betty,  though  she  certainly 
hasn't  received  me  in  the  most  sisterly  fashion.  But 
Martha  I  must  see.     She  must  say  to  Dina — she  must 

promise  me [He  goes  out  by  the  farthest  back  door 

on  the  left) 

Bernick  {to  himself).  The  Indian  Girl ?   {Quickly.) 

Lona,  you  must  get  this  stopped ! 

LoNA.  You   see   yourself,  Karsten  —  I    have    lost  all 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  «o 

power  over  him.      {She  follows  Johan  into  the  room  on 
the  left.) 

Beiwick  (i/t  unquiet  thought).  Go  to  the  bottom ? 

AuNE  enters  from  the  right. 

AuNE.  Excuse  me,  Consul,  are  you  disengaged ? 

Beeniok  (turns  angrily).     What  do  you  want? 

AuNE.  I  wish,  by  your  leave,  to  ask  you  a  question. 
Consul  Bernick. 

Bernick.  Well,  well ;  be  quick.  What  do  you  want 
to  ask  about  ? 

AuNE.  I  want  to  know  if  it  is  your  determination — 
your  fixed  determination — to  dismiss  me  if  the  Indian 
Girl  should  not  be  able  to  sail  to-morrow  ? 

Bernick.  What  now  ?     The  ship  lodl  be  ready  to  sail. 

AuNE.  Yes,  she  will.  But  supposing  she  were  not — 
should  I  be  dismissed  ? 

Bernick.  Why  do  you  ask  such  a  useless  question  ? 

AuNE.  I  want  very  much  to  know,  Consul  Just  an- 
swer me  ;  should  I  be  dismissed  ? 

Bernick.  Do  I  generally  change  my  mind  ? 

AuNE.  Then  to-morrow  I  should  have  lost  the  position 
I  now  hold  in  my  home  and  in  my  family — lost  all  my 
influence  over  the  workmen — lost  all  opportunity  of  ad- 
vancing the  cause  of  the  needy  and  oppressed  ? 

Bernick.  Aune,  we  have  discussed  that  point  long  ago. 

AuNE.  Yes — then  the  Indian  Girl  must  sail.  {A  short 
pause.) 

Bernick.  Listen  ;  I  cannot  look  after  everything  my- 
self ;  cannot  be  responsible  for  everything.  I  suppose 
you  are  prepared  to  assure  me  that  the  repairs  are  thor- 
oughly carried  out  ? 


84  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

AuNE.  You  gave  me  very  short  time,  Consul. 

Behnick.  But  the  repairs  are  all  right,  you  say  ? 

AuNE.  The  weather  is  fine,  and  it  is  midsummer. 
{Another  pause.) 

Beknick.  Have  you  anything  more  to  say  to  me  ? 

AuNE.  I  don't  know  of  anything  else,  Consul. 

Bernick.     Then — the  Indian  Girl  sails 

AuNE.  To-morrow? 

Bernick.  Yes. 

AuNE.  Very  well.  {He  bows  and  goes  out.  Bernick 
stands  for  a  moment  undecided  ;  then  he  goes  quickly 
to  the  door  as  if  to  call  Aune  back,  but  stops  and  stands 
hesitating,  with  his  hand  on  the  handle.  Immediately 
after  the  door  is  opened  from  outside  and  Krap  enters.) 

Krap  {speaking  low).  Aha,  he  has  been  here.  Has 
he  confessed  ? 

Bernick.  H'm ;  have  you  discovered  anything  ? 

Krap.  What  need  was  there  ?  Did  you  not  see  the 
evil  conscience  looking  out  of  his  very  eyes  ? 

Bernick.  Oh,  nonsense  ; — such  things  are  not  to  be 
seen.     Have  you  discovered  anything,  I  ask  ? 

Krap.  I  couldn't  get  to  the  place  ;  I  was  too  late  -. 
they  were  busy  hauling  the  ship  out  of  dock.  But  this 
very  haste  proves  plainly  tliat 

Bernick.  It  proves  nothing.  The  inspection  has  taken 
place,  then? 

Krap.    Of  course  ;  but 

Bernick.  There,  you  see !  and  they've  found  nothing 
to  complain  of  ? 

Krap.  Consul,  you  know  very  well  how  such  inspec- 
tions are  conducted,  especially  in  a  yard  that  has  such  a 
good  name  as  ours. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  8;') 

Bernick.  That  does  not  matter ;  it  relieves  us  of  all 
reproach, 

Krap.  Could  you  really  not  see,  Consul,  from  Anna's 
very  look,  that ? 

Bernick.  Aune  has  entirely  satisfied  me,  I  tell  you. 

Krap.  And  I  tell  you  I  am  morally  convinced 

Bernick.  What  does  this  meau,  Krap  ?  I  know  very 
well  that  you  have  a  grudge  against  the  man  ;  but  if  you 
want  to  attack  him,  you  should  choose  some  other  op- 
portunity. You  know  how  necessary  it  is  for  me — or 
rather  for  the  owners — that  the  Indian  Girl  should  sail 
to-morrow. 

Krap.  Very  well ;  so  be  it ;  but  if  ever  we  hear  again 
of  that  ship — h'm  ! 

ViGELAND  enters  from  the  right. 

ViaELAND.  How  do  you  do,  Consul?  Have  you  a  mo- 
ment to  spare  ? 

Bernick.  At  your  service,  Mr.  Vigeland. 

ViGELAND.  I  only  want  to  know  if  you  agree  with  me 
that  the  Palm  Tree  should  sail  to-morrow. 

Bernick.  Yes — I  thought  that  was  settled. 

Vigeland.  But  the  captain  has  just  come  to  tell  me 
that  the  storm-signals  have  been  hoisted, 

Krap.  The  barometer  has  fallen  rapidly  since  this 
morning. 

Bernick.  Indeed  ?     Is  there  a  storm  coming  ? 

Vigeland.  A  stiff  gale  at  any  rate  ;  but  not  a  contrary 
wind  ;  quite  the  reverse 

Bernick.  H'm  ;  what  do  you  say,  then  ? 

Vigeland.  I  say  as  I  said  to  the  captain,  that  the 
Palm  Tree  is  in  the  hands  of  Providence.  And  besides, 
14 


86  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

she's  only  going  over  the  North  Sea  to  begin  with; 
and  freights  are  tolerably  high  in  England  just  now, 
so  that 

Bebnick.  Yes,  it  would  probably  be  a  loss  to  us  if  we 
delayed. 

ViGELAND.  The  vessel's  well  built,  you  know,  and  fully 
insured  as  well.  I  can  tell  you  it's  another  matter  with 
the  Indian  Girl 

Bernick.  What  do  you  mean  ' 

ViGELAND.  Why,  she  is  to  sail  to-morrow  too. 

Bernick.  Yes,  the  owners  hurried  us  on,  and  be- 
sides  

ViGEL.\ND.  Well,  if  that  old  hulk  can  venture  out — and 
with  such  a  crew  into  the  bargain — it  would  be  a  shame 
II  we  couldn't 

Bernick.  Well,  well ;  I  suppose  you  have  got  the  ship's 
papers  with  you. 

ViGELAND.  Yes,  here  they  are. 

Bernick.   Good  ;  perhaps  you  will  go  with  Mr.  Krap. 

Krap.  This  way,  please  ;  we'll  soon  put  them  in  order. 

ViGELAND.  Thanks — and  the  result  we  will  leave  in  the 
liands  of  Omnipotence,  Consul.  {He  goes  with  Krap  into 
the  foremost  room  on  the  left.) 

Rector  Rorlund  comes  through  the  garden. 

RoRLUND.  Ah,  is  it  possible  you  are  to  be  found  at 
home  at  this  time  of  the  day,  Consul? 

Bernick  (absently).  As  you  see  ! 

Rorlund.  It  was  really  to  see  your  wife  that  I  looked 
in.     I  thought  she  might  need  a  word  of  consolation. 

Bernick.  I  dare  say  she  does.  But  I,  too,  should  like 
a  word  or  two  with  you. 


THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY.  87 

RoRLxmo.  With  pleasure.  Consul.  But  what  is  the 
matter  with  you  ?     You  look  quite  pale  and  disturbed. 

Bernick.  Indeed  ?  Do  I  ?  Well,  it  could  scarcely  be 
otlierwise,  with  such  a  lot  of  things  besetting  me  all  at 
once.  In  addition  to  all  my  usual  business,  I  have  this 
afltair  of  the  railway.  Listen  a  moment,  Rector  ;  let  me 
ask  you  a  question. 

RoRLUND.  With  great  pleasure,  Consul. 

Bernick.  A  thought  has  occurred  to  me  lately  ;  when 
one  stands  at  the  commencement  of  a  wide-stretching 
undertaking,  intended  to  pi'omote  the  welfare  of  thou- 
sands, if  a  single  sacrifice  should  be  demanded ? 

RoRLu^^D,  How  do  you  mean  ? 

Bernick.  Take,  for  example,  a  man  who  is  starting  a 
great  manufactory.  He  knows  very  certainly — all  ex- 
perience has  taught  him — that  sooner  or  later,  in  the 
working  of  that  manufactory,  human  life  will  be  lost. 

RoRLTJND.  Yes,  it  is  only  too  probable. 

Bernick.  Or  he  is  engaged  in  mining  operations.  He 
takes  both  fathers  of  families  and  young  men  in  the  hey- 
day of  life  into  his  service.  Cannot  it  be  said  with 
certainty  that  some  of  these  are  bound  to  perish  in  the 
undertaking  ? 

Rorlund.  Unfortunately  there  can  be  little  doubt  of 
that. 

Bernick.  Well ;  such  a  man,  then,  knows  beforehand 
that  his  enterprise  will  undoubtedly,  some  time  or  other, 
lead  to  the  loss  of  life.  But  the  undertaking  is  for  the- 
greater  good  of  the  greater  number  ;  for  every  life  it 
costs,  it  will,  with  equal  certainty,  promote  the  welfare 
of  many  hundreds. 

Rorlund.  Aha,  you  are  thinking  of  the  railway — of  aU 


88  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

the  dangerous  tunnellings  and  blastings,  and  that  sort 
of  thing 

Beknick.  Yes — yes,  of  course  ;  I  am  thinking  of  the 
railway.  And,  besides,  the  railway  will  bring  in  its  train 
both  manufactories  and  mines.  But  don't  you  thint 
that 

RoRLUND.  My  dear  Consul,  you  are  almost  too  Quixotic. 
If  you  place  the  affair  in  the  hand  of  Providence 

Bernick.  Yes — yes,  of  course  ;  Providence 

EoRLUND.  You  can  have  nothing  to  reproach  your- 
self with.     Go  on  and  prosper  with  the  railway. 

Bernick.  Yes,  but  let  us  take  a  peculiar  case.  Let  us 
suppose  a  mine  had  to  be  sprung  at  a  dangerous  place  ; 
and,  unless  it  was  sprung,  the  railway  would  come  to  a 
standstill.  Suppose  the  engineer  knows  that  it  will  cost 
the  life  of  the  workman  who  fires  the  train  ;  but  fired  it 
must  be,  and  it  is  the  engineer's  duty  to  send  a  workman 
to  do  it. 

EORLUND.   H'm 

Bernick.  I  know  what  you  will  say  :  It  would  be  noble 
for  the  engineer  himself  to  take  the  match  and  go  and 
fire  the  train.  But  no  one  does  such  things.  Then  he 
must  sacrifice  a  workman. 

RoRLUND.  No  engineer,  among  us  would  ever  do 
that. 

Bernick.  No  engineer  in  the  great  nations  would  think 
twice  about  doing  it. 

.    Rorlund.  In  the  gi'eat  nations.     No,  I  dare  say  not. 
In  these  depraved  and  unprincipled  communities 

Bernick.  Oh,  these  communities  have  their  good 
points,  too. 

Rorlund.  Can  you  say  that — you,  who  yourself ? 


THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY.  89 

Bernick.  In  the  great  nations  one  has  always  room  to 
press  forward  a  useful  project.  There,  one  has  courage 
to  sacrifice  something  for  a  great  cause  ;  but  here,  one 
is  cramped  in  by  all  sorts  of  petty  considex-ations. 

RoELUND.  Is  a  human  life  a  petty  consideration  ? 

Bernick.  When  that  human  life  threatens  the  welfare 
of  thousands. 

KoRLUND.  But  3'ou  are  putting  quite  impossible  cases, 
Consul.  I  don't  understand  you  to-day.  And  you  refer 
me  to  the  great  communities.  Yes,  there — what  does  a 
human  life  count  for  there  ?  They  think  less  of  lives 
than  of  profits.  But  we,  I  hope,  look  at  things  from  an 
entirely  different  moral  standpoint.  Think  of  our  noble 
shipowners  !  Name  me  a  single  merchant  here  among 
us  Avho,  for  paltry  gain,  would  sacrifice  a  single  life. 
And  then  think  of  those  scoundrels  in  the  great  com- 
munities who  make  money  by  sending  out  one  unsea- 
worthy  ship  after  another 

Bernick.  I  am  not  speaking  of  unseaworthy  ships. 

RoRLUND.  But  I  am,  Consul. 

Bernick.  Yes,  but  to  what  purpose  ?  It  is  quite  away 
from  the  question.  Oh,  these  little  timid  considera- 
tions !  If  a  general  among  us  were  to  lead  his  troops 
under  fire,  and  get  some  of  them  shot,  he  wouldn't  be 
able  to  sleep  at  night  after  it.     It  is  not  so  in  other 

places.     You  should  hear  what  he  says {Pointing  to 

the  door  on  the  left.) 

RoRLUND.  He  ?     Who,  the  American  ? 

Bernick.  Of  course.  You  should  hear  how  people  in 
America 

RoRLUND.  Is  he  in  there  ?  Why  didn't  you  tell  me. 
I  shall  go  at  once 


90  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY- 

Beenick.  It  is  of  no  use.  You  will  make  no  imprea 
sion  upon  him. 

RoRLUND.  That  we  shall  see.     Ah,  here  he  is. 

JoHAK  ToKNESEN  comes  frovi  the  room  on  the  left. 

JoHAN  [speaking  thr^ough  the  open  doorway).  Yes,  yes, 
Dina,  so  be  it ;  but  I  shall  not  give  you  up  all  the  same. 
I  shall  return,  and  things  will  come  all  right  between  us. 

EoRLUND.  Allow  me.  What  do  you  mean  by  thes? 
words  ?     What  do  you  want  ? 

JoHAN.  I  want  that  young  girl,  before  whom  you 
yesterday  slandered  me,  to  be  my  wife. 

RoKLUND.  Yours  ?     Can  you  think  that ? 

JoHAN.  She  ^hall  be  my  wife. 

EoELUND.  Well,  then,  you  shall  hear — —  {^Goes  to  the 
half-open  door.)  Mrs.  Bernick,  you  must  have  the  kind- 
ness to  be  a  witness.  And  you,  too,  Miss  Martha  ;  and 
let  Dina  come  too.     [Sees  Lona.)     Ah,  are  you  here  ? 

LoNA  [at  the  door).   Shall  I  come  too  ? 

RoRLUND.  As  many  as  will — the  more  the  better. 

Bernick.  What  are  you  going  to  do  ? 

LoNA,    Mrs.   Bernick,  1\I.\rtha,  Dina,   and  Hilmar   Ton- 
NESEN  come  out  of  the  room  on  the  left. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Rector,  all  I  can  do  cannot  prevent  him 
from 

Rorlund.  I  shall  prevent  him,  Mrs.  Bernick.  Dina, 
you  are  a  thoughtless  girl.  But  I  do  not  blame  yon 
very  much.  You  have  stood  here  too  long  without  the 
moral  support  that  should  have  kept  you  up.  I  blame 
myself  for  not  having  given  you  that  support. 

Dina.  You  must  not  speak  now ! 


TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  91 

Mrs.  Beenick.  What  is  all  this  ? 

RoRLUND.  It  is  now  that  I  must  speak,  Dina,  though 
your  behavior  to-day  has  rendered  it  ten  times  more 
difficult  for  me.  But  all  other  considerations  must  give 
place  to  your  rescue.  You  remember  the  promise  I 
gave  you.  You  remember  what  you  promised  to  answer, 
when  I  found  that  the  time  had  come.  Now  I  can  hesi- 
tate no  longer,  and  therefore  [to  Johan  Tonnesen)  this 
young  girl,  whom  you  are  pursuing,  is  my  betrothed. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  What  do  you  say  ? 

Bernick.  Dina  ! 

JoH.\N.  She  !     Yours ? 

IMaktha.  No,  no,  Dina. 

LoNA.  A  lie ! 

Johan.  Dina,  does  that  man  speak  the  truth? 

Dina  {after  a  short  pause).  Yes. 

EoRLDND.  This,  I  trust,  will  paralyze  all  your  arts 
of  seduction.  The  step  I  have  determined  to  take  for 
Dina's  welfare  may  now  be  made  known  to  our  whole 
community.  I  hope — nay,  I  am  sure — that  it  will  not 
be  misinterpreted.  And  now,  Mrs.  Bernick,  I  think  we 
had  better  take  her  away  from  here  and  try  to  restore 
the  peace  and  equilibrium  of  her  mind. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Yes,  come.  Oh,  Dina,  what  happiness 
for  you  !  {She  leads  Dina  out  to  the  left ;  Rector  Rorlund 
goes  along  tvith  them.) 

Martha.  Good-by,  Johan !     {She  goes  out.) 

HiLMAR  {at  the  garden  door).  H'm — well,  I  really  must 
6ay 

LoNA  {ivho  has  been  following  Dina  loilh  her  eyes).  Don't 
be  cast  down,  boy  !  I  shall  remain  here  and  look  after 
the  Pastor. 


92  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Bernick.  Johan,  you  won't  go  now  with  the  Indian 
Girl ! 

JoHAN.  Now  more  than  ever. 

Bebnick.  Then  you  will  not  come  back  again  ? 

Johan.  I  shall  come  back  again. 

Bernick.  After  this  ?     "What  can  you  do  after  this  ? 

JoHAN.  Revenge  myself  on  you  all  ;  crush  as  many  of 
you  as  I  can.     {He  goes  out  to  the  right.) 

ViGELAND  and  Krap  come  from  the  GonsiWs  office. 

ViGELAND.  See,  the  papers  are  in  order  now,  Consul. 

Bernick.  Good,  good 

Krap  [aside).  Then  it  is  settled  that  the  Indian  Girl  is 
to  sail  to-morrow  ? 

Bernick.  She  is  to  sail.  (He  goes  into  his  room-. 
Vigeland  and  Krap  go  out  to  the  right.  Hllm.ar  Tonne- 
sen  is  following  them,  when  Olaf  peeps  cautiously  out 
at  the  door  on  the  left.) 

Ol.vf.  Uncle  !     Uncle  Hilmar ! 

HiLMAR.  Ugh,  is  that  you  ?  Why  don't  you  remain 
upstairs  ?     You  know  you  are  under  arrest. 

OL.\r  (comes  a  few  steps  forward).  Hush  !  Uncle  Hil- 
mar, do  you  know  the  news  ? 

Hilmar.  Yes,  I  know  that  you  got  a  thrashing  to-day. 

Olaf  (looks  threateningly  toward  his  father's  room).  He 
sha'n't  thi-ash  me  again.  But  do  you  know  that  Uncle 
Johan  is  to  sail  to-morrow  with  the  Americans? 

Hilmar.  What  is  that  to  you  ?    You  get  upstairs  again  ! 

Olaf.  Perhaps  I  may  go  buftalo-hunting  yet,  uncle. 

Hilmar.  Rubbish  ;  such  a  coward  as  you 

Olaf.  Just  wait  a  little  ;  you'll  hear  something  to- 
morrow. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  98 

HiLMAE.  Little  blockhead  !  {lie  goes  out  through  the 
garden.  Olaf  runs  out  of  the  room  and  shuts  the  door 
when  he  catches  sight  of  Kkap,  ivho  conies  from  the  right.) 

Keap  {goes  up  to  the  ConsuVs  door  and  opens  it  a  little). 
Excuse  my  coming  again,  Consul,  but  there's  a  terrible 
storm  brewing.  {He  waits  a  moment ;  there  is  no  answer.) 
Is  the  Indian  Girl  to  sail  in  spite  of  it  ? 

Beknick  {after  a  short  pause,  answers  from  the  office). 
The  Indian  Girl  is  to  sail  in  spite  of  it.  (Krap  shuts  the 
door  and  goes  out  again  to  the  right.) 


ACT  TV. 

\ The  garden-room  in  Consul  Berntck's  house.  The  table 
has  been  removed.  It  is  a  stormy  evening,  already 
half  dark,  and  growing  darker.'] 

[^A  servant  lights  the  chandelier,  two  maid-serva^its 
bring  in  flower-pots,  lamps,  and  candles,  which  are 
placed  on  tables  and  shelves  along  the  loall.  Rum- 
MEL,  wearing  a  dress-coat,  white  gloves,  and  a  white 
necktie,  stands  in  the  room,  giving  directions. '\ 

RuMMEL  {to  the  servant).  Only  every  second  candle, 
Jacob.  The  place  mustn't  look  too  brilliant ;  it  is  sup- 
posed  to    be   a    surprise,    you   know.      And   all   these 

flowers ?     Ob,  yes,  let  them  stand  ;  it  will  seem  as 

if  they  were  there  always. 

Consul  Bernick  comes  out  of  his  room. 

Bernick  {at  the  door).  What  is  the  meaning  of  all  this  ? 

RuMMEL.  Oh,  are  you  there  ?  ( To  the  servants.)  Yes, 
you  can  go  now.  {The  servants  go  out  by  the  farthest  back 
door  on  the  left.) 

Bernick  {coming  into  the  room).  Why,  Rummel,  what 
can  all  this  mean? 

Rummel.  It  means  that  the  proudest  moment  of  your 
life  has  arrived.  The  whole  town  is  coming  in  pro- 
cession to  do  honor  to  its  leading  citizen. 

Bernick.  What  do  you  mean  ? 


THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY.  95 

RuMMEL.  In  procession  and  with  music  !  We  should 
have  had  torches  too ;  but  we  dared  not  attempt  it 
in  this  stormy  weather.  But  there's  to  be  an  illumina- 
tion ;  it  will  look  quite  splendid  in  the  newspapers. 

Beenick.  Listen,  Rummel — I  will  have  nothing  to  do 
with  all  this. 

RuMMEL.  Oh,  it's  too  late  now  ;  they'll  be  here  in  half 
an  hour. 

Bernick.  Wby  have  you  not  told  me  of  this  before? 

RuMMEL.  Just  because  I  was  afraid  you  would  make 
objections.  But  I  ai*ranged  it  all  with  your  wife  ;  she 
allowed  me  to  put  things  in  order  a  little,  and  she  is 
going  to  look  to  the  refreshments  herself. 

Bernick  (listening).  What  is  thiit?  Are  they  coming 
already  ?     I  thought  I  beard  singing. 

RuMMEL  (at  the  garden  door).  Singing  ?  Oh,  it  is  only 
the  Americans.  They  are  hauling  out  the  Indian  Girl 
to  the  buoy. 

Bernick.  Hauling  her  out !  Yes^ —  ;  I  really  cannot 
this  evening,  Rummel ;  I  am  not  well. 

Rummel.  You  are  certainly  not  looking  well.  But 
you  must  brace  j'ourself  up.  Come,  coine,  man,  you 
must  brace  yourself  up.  I  and  Sandstad  and  Vigeland 
attach  the  greatest  iuii:)ortance  to  getting  this  aflfuir 
managed.  Oar  opponents  must  be  crushed  under  the 
weiglit  of  the  unanimous  utterance  of  public  opinion. 
The  rumors  are  spreading  over  the  town  ;  the  announce- 
ment as  to  the  purchase  of  the  pi'operty  can't  be  kept 
back  any  longer.  This  very  evening,  amid  songs  and 
speeches  and  the  ring  of  brimming  goblets,  in  short, 
amid  all  the  effervescent  festivity  of  the  occasion,  you 
must  let  them  know  what  you  have  ventured  for  the 


I>(j  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

good  of  the  community.  With  the  aid  of  such  efferves- 
cent festivity,  as  I  have  just  expressed  it,  it's  astonishing 
what  one  can  ejffect  here  among  us.  But  we  must  have 
the  effervescence  or  it  won't  do. 

Bernick.  Yes,  yes,  yes 

RuMMEL.  And  especially  when  such  a  difficult  and 
delicate  matter  is  to  be  brought  forward.  You  have, 
thank  Heaven,  a  name  that  will  carry  us  through,  Ber- 
nick. But  listen  now ;  we  must  make  some  arrange- 
ment. Hilmar  Tunnesen  has  written  a  song  in  your 
honor.  It  begins  very  prettily  with  the  line,  "Wave  th' 
Ideal's  banner  high."  And  Rector  Rorlund  has  been 
commissioned  to  make  the  speech  of  the  evening.  Of 
course  you  must  reply  to  it. 

Bernick.  I  cannot,  I  cannot  this  evening,  Rummel. 
Could  not  you ? 

Rummel,  Impossible,  however  much  I  might  like  to. 
The  speech  will,  of  course,  be  mainly  directed  to  you. 
Perhaps  a  few  words  will  be  devoted  to  the  rest  of  us. 
I  have  spoken  to  Vigeland  and  Sandstad  about  it.  We 
had  arranged  that  you  should  answer  with  a  toast  to  the 
welfare  of  the  community  ;  Sandstad  should  say  a  few 
words  on  the  union  between  the  different  classes  of  the 
community  ;  Vigeland  should  exjjress  the  fervent  hope 
that  our  new  undertaking  may  not  disturb  the  moral 
foundation  upon  which  we  have  placed  the  community  ; 
and  I  should  call  attention,  in  a  few  well-chosen  words, 
to  the  claims  of  Woman,  whose  more  modest  activity  is 
not  without  its  use  in  the  community.  But  you  are  i\ot 
listening. 

Bernick.  Yes — yes,  I  am.  But,  tell  me,  do  you  think 
the  sea  is  running  very  high  outside  ? 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  !>T 

KuMMEL.  Oh,  you  are  anxious  on  account  of  the  Palm 
Tree  ?     She's  well  insured,  isn't  she  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  insured  ;  but 

EuMMEL.  And  in  good  repair  ;  and  that's  the  main 
thing. 

Bernick.  H'm — and  even  if  anything  happens  to  a  ves- 
sel, it  doesn't  follow  that  lives  will  be  lost.  The  ship  and 
cargo  may  go  to  the  bottom — people  may  lose  chests 
and  papers 

RuMMEL.  Good  gracious,  chests  and  papers  aren't  of  so 
much  importance. 

Bernick.  You  think  not !     No,  no,  I  only  meant 

Hark  ; — that  singing  again  ! 

EuMMEL.  It  is  on  board  the  Palm  Tree. 

ViGELAXD  enters  from  the  right, 

ViGELAND.  Yes,  they're  hauling  out  the  Palm  Tree. 
Good  evening,  Consul ! 

Bernick.  And  you,  who  know  the  sea  well,  hold  fast 
to ? 

ViGELAND.  I  hold  fast  to  Providence,  Consul ;  besides, 
I  have  been  on  board  and  distributed  a  few  leaflets, 
which  I  hope  will  act  with  a  blessing. 

Sandstad  and  Krap  enter  from  the  right. 

Sandstad  {at  the  door).  It's  a  miracle  if  they  escape. 
Ah,  here  we  are — good  evening,  good  evening. 

Bernick.  Is  anything  the  matter,  Krap  ? 

Krap.  I  have  nothing  to  say,  Consul 

Sandstad.  Every  man  on  board  the  Indian  Girl  is 
di*unk.  If  these  animals  ever  get  over  alive,  I'm  no 
prophet. 


98  TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

LoNA  comes  from  the  right. 

LoNA  {to  BernicJc).  Well,  I've  been  seeing  him  off 

Bernick.  Is  he  on  board  already  ? 

LoNA.  Will  be  soon,  at  any  rate.  We  parted  outside 
the  hotel. 

Bernick.  And  he  holds  to  his  purpose  ? 

LoNA.  Firm  as  a  rock. 

RuMMEL  {at  one  of  the  windows).  Deuce  take  these  new- 
fashioned  arrangements.     I  can't  get  the  blinds  down. 

LoNA.  Are  they  to  come  down?  I  thought,  on  the 
contrary 

RuMiviEL.  They  are  to  be  down  at  first.  Miss  Hessel. 
Of  course  you  know  what  is  going  on  ? 

LoNA.  Oh,  of  course.  Let  me  help  you.  {Takes  one 
of  the  cords.)  I  shall  let  the  curtain  fall  upon  my  bro- 
ther-in-law— though  I  would  rather  raise  it. 

RuMMEL.  That  you  can  do  later.  When  the  garden 
is  filled  with  a  surging  crowd  then  the  curtains  rise 
and  they  look  in  upon  a  surprised  and  happy  family — 
a  citizen's  house  should  be  transparent  to  all  the  world. 
(Bernick  seems  about  to  say  something  but  turns  quickly 
and  goes  into  his  office.) 

RuMMEL.  Well,  let  us  hold  our  last  council  of  war. 
Come,  Mr.  Krap,  we  want  you  to  supply  us  with  a  few 
facts.  {All  the  men  go  into  the  Consul's  office.  Lona  has 
lowered  all  the  window-blinds,  and  is  just  going  to  draw  the 
curtain  over  the  open  glass-door  when  Olaf  jumps  down 
from  above  upon  the  garden  stair  ;  he  has  a  plaid  over  his 
shoulder  and  a  bundle  in  his  hand.) 

Lona.  Good  heavens,  child,  how  you  frightened  me ! 

Olaf  {hiding  the  bundle).  Hush,  aunt ! 


THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY.  99 

LoNA.  Why  did  you  jump  out  at  tbe  window?  Where 
are  you  going  ? 

Olap.  Hush,  don't  say  anything,  aunt.  I  am  going  to 
Uncle  Johan  ;  only  down  to  the  pier,  you  understand  ; — ■ 
only  to  say  good-by  to  him.     Good  night,  aunt ! 

{He  runs  out  through  the  garden. 

LoNA.  No!  stop!  Olaf— Olaf! 

Johan  Tonnesen,  dressed  for  a  journey,  with  a  bag  over  his 
shoidder,  steals  in  by  the  door  on  the  right. 

Johan.  Lona  ! 

LoNA  {turning).  What!  you  here  again ? 
Johan.   There  are  still  a  few  minutes  to  spare.    I  must 
see  her  once  more.     We  cannot  part  so. 

Martha  and  Dina,  both  vjith  cloaks  on,  and  the  latter  with  a 
little  knapsack  in  her  hand,  enter  from  the  furthest 
back  door  on  the  left. 

Dina.  To  him  ;  to  him  I 

Martha.  Yes,  you  shall  go  to  him,  Dinal 

Dina.   There  he  is  ! 

Johan.  Dina  I 

Dina.  Take  me  with  you  1 

Johan.  What ! 

Lona.  You  will? 

Dina.  Yes,  take  me  with  you.  The  other  one  has 
written  to  me  saying  that  this  evening  it  shall  be 
announced  publicly  to  everyone 

Johan.  Dina — you  do  not  love  him  ? 

Dina.  I  never  have  loved  the  man.  I  would  rather  be 
at  the  bottom  of  the  fjord  than  be  betrothed  to  him  I 


100  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOGIETY. 

Oh,  how  he  seemed  to  make  me  grovel  before  him  yester. 
day  with  his  patronizing  words  !  How  he  made  me  feel 
that  he  was  stooping  to  an  abject  creature  !  I  will  not  be 
despised  any  more  !  I  will  go  away !  May  I  come 
with  you  ? 

JoHAN.  Yes,  yes — a  thousand  times  yes  ! 

DiNA.  I  shall  not  be  a  burden  on  you  long.  Only 
help  me  over  there  ;  help  me  to  make  a  start 

JoHAN.  Hurrah  !     We'll  manage  all  that,  Dina  ! 

LoNA  (^pointing  to  the  ConsuVs  door).  Hush ;  don't 
speak  so  loud. 

JoHAN.  Dina,  I  shall  shield  and  protect  you. 

Dina.  I  will  not  allow  you  to.  I  will  make  my  own 
way  ;  over  there  I  shall  manage  well  enough.  Only  let 
me  get  away  from  here.  Oh,  these  women — you  do  not 
know — they  have  written  to  me  to-day ;  they  have  ex- 
horted me  to  appreciate  m}'  good  fortune  ;  they  have 
impressed  upon  me  what  magnanimity  he  has  shown. 
To-morrow  and  forever  after,  they  will  be  watching  me  to 
see  whether  I  render  myself  worthy  of  it  all.  I  am  sick 
of  all  this  goodness. 

JoHAN.  Tell  me,  Dina,  is  that  your  only  reason  for 
coming  ?     Am  I  liothiug  to  you  ? 

Dina.  Yes,  Johan,  you  are  more  to  me  than  anyone 
else. 

Johan.  Oh,  Dina! 

Dina.  They  all  say  here  that  I  must  hate  and  detest 
you  ;  that  it  is  my  duty ;  but  I  don't  understand  what 
they  mean  by  duty  ;  I  never  could  understand  it. 

LoNA.  And  you  never  shall,  my  child  ! 

M.VRTHA.  No,  you  shall  not,  and  that  is  why  you  must 
go  with  him  as  his  Avife. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  101 

JoHAN.  Yes,  yes! 

LoNA.  What  ?  Now  I  must  kiss  you,  Martha  !  I  did 
not  expect  this  of  you. 

Martha.  No,  I  daresay  not ;  I  did  not  expect  it  my- 
self. But  sooner  or  later  the  crisis  was  bound  to  come. 
Oh,  how  we  writhe  under  this  tyranny  of  custom  and 
convention  !  Rebel  against  it,  Diaa.  Become  his  wife  ! 
Do  something  to  defy  all  this  use-and-wont ! 

JoHAN.  What  is  your  answer,  Dina  ? 

DiNA.  Yes,  I  will  be  your  wife. 

JoHAN.  Dina ! 

Dina.  But  first  I  will  work,  and  become  something  for 
myself,  just  as  you  are.  I  will  give  myself,  I  will  not  be 
taken. 

LoNA.  Eight,  right !     So  it  should  be  ! 

JoHAN.  Good  ;  I  shall  wait  and  hope 

LoNA.  And  win  too,  boy  !    But  now,  on  board  ! 

JoHAN.  Yes,  on  board  !     Ah,  Lona,  my  dear  sister,  one 

word  ;    come    here {He   leads   her   up  toward  the 

background  and  talks  quietly  to  her.) 

Maktha.  Dina,  you  happy  one — ^let  me  look  at  you 
and  kiss  you  once  more — for  the  last  time. 

DmA.  Not  the  last  time  ;  no,  my  dear,  dear  aunt ;  we 
shall  meet  again. 

Martha.  Never !  Promise  me,  Dina,  never  to  come 
back  again.  [Takes  both  her  hands  and  looks  into  her 
face.)  Now  go  to  your  happiness,  my  dear  child,  over 
the  sea.  Oh,  how  often  have  I  sat  in  the  school-room 
and  longed  to  be  over  there  !  It  must  be  beautiful 
there ;  the  heaven  is  wider ;  the  clouds  sail  higher 
than   here  ;  a  freer  air  streams  over   the  heads  of  the 

people 

15 


102       THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Din  A.   Oh,  Aunt  Martha,  you  will  follow  us  some  day. 

Mabtha.  I?  Never,  never.  My  little  life-work  lies 
here,  and  now  I  think  I  can  be  fully  and  wholly  what  I 
should  be. 

DiNA.  I  cannot  think  of  being  parted  from  you. 

Martha.  Ah,  one  can  part  from  so  much,  Dina. 
{Kisaes  her.)  But  you  will  never  know  it,  my  sweet 
child.     Promise  me  to  make  him  happy. 

DiNA.  I  will  not  promise  anything.  I  hate  this  prom- 
ising ;  things  must  come  as  they  can. 

Martha.  Yes,  yes,  so  they  must;  you  need  only  re- 
main as  you  are — true,  and  faithful  to  yourself. 

DiNA.  That  I  will.  Aunt  Martha. 

LoNA  {puts  in  her  pocket  some  papers  which  Johan  has 
given  her).  Good,  good,  my  dear  boy.     But  now,  away. 

JoHAN.  Yes,  now  there's  no  time  to  be  lost,  Good- 
by,  Lona ;  thank  you  for  all  your  love  for  me.  Good- 
by,  Martha,  and  thanks  to  you,  too,  for  your  true  friend- 
ship. 

Martha.  Good  -  by,  Johan !  Good  -  by,  Dina  !  And 
happiness  be  over  all  your  days  !  {She  and  Lona  hurry 
them  toward  the  door  in  the  background.  Johan  Tonne- 
ben  and  Dina  go  quickly  out  through  the  garden.  Lona 
shuts  the  door  and  draws  the  curtain.) 

Lona.  Now  we  are  alone,  Martha.  You  have  lost  her, 
and  I  him. 

MAiiTHA.  You — him? 

Lona.  Oh,  I  had  half  lost  him  already  over  there. 
The  boy  longed  to  stand  on  his  own  feet ;  so  I  made 
him  think  /  was  longing  for  home. 

Martha.  That  was  it?  Now  I  understand  why  you 
came.     But  he  will  want  you  back  again,  Lona. 


TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  103 

LoKA.  An  old  step-sister — what  can  he  want  with  her 
now  ?     Men  snap  many  bonds  to  arrive  at  happiness. 

Maktha.  It  is  so,  sometimes. 

LoNA.  But  now  we  two  must  hold  together,  Martha. 

Martha.  Can  I  be  anything  to  you? 

LoNA.  Who  more?  We  two  foster-mothers — have  we 
not  both  lost  our  children  ?     Now  we  are  alone. 

M.iKTHA.  Yes,  alone.  And  therefore  I  will  tell  you — 
I  have  loved  him  more  than  all  the  world. 

LoNA.  Martha  !       (Seizes  her  arin.)     Is  this  the  truth? 

Maktha.  My  whole  life  lies  in  the  words.  I  have  loved 
him,  and  waited  for  him.  From  summer  to  summer  I 
have  looked  for  his  coming.  And  then  he  came — but 
he  did  not  see  me. 

LoNA.  Loved  him !  and  it  was  you  that  gave  his  hap- 
piness into  his  hands. 

Martha.  Should  I  not  have  given  him  his  happiness, 
since  I  loved  him  ?  Yes,  I  have  loved  him.  My  whole 
life  has  been  for  him,  ever  since  he  went  away.  What 
reason  had  I  to  hope,  you  ask?  Well,  I  think  I  had 
some  reason.  But  then,  when  he  came  again — it  seemed 
as  if  everything  were  wiped  out  of  his  memory.  He  did 
not  see  me. 

LoNA.  It  was  Dina  that  overshadowed  you,  Martha. 

Martha.  It  is  well  that  she  did  ?  When  he  went  away 
we  were  of  the  same  age  ;  when  I  saw  him  again — oh, 
that  horrible  moment — it  seemed  to  me  that  I  was  ten 
years  older  than  he.  He  had  lived  in  the  bright,  quiver- 
ing sunshine,  and  drunk  in  youth  and  health  at  every 
breath  ;  and  here  sat  I  the  while,  spinning  and  spin- 
ning  

LoNA.  Tlie  thread  of  his  happiness,  Martha. 


104  FHE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Mabtha.  Yes,  it  was  gold  I  spun.  No  bitterness !  Is 
it  not  true,  Lona,  we  have  been  two  good  sisters  to 
him? 

Lona  {embraces  her).  Martha ! 

Consul  Bernick  comes  out  of  his  room. 

Bernick  (to  the  men  inside).  Yes,  yes,  manage  the  whole 
thing  as  you  please.     When  the  time  comes,  I  shall  be 

ready (Shuts  the  door.)    Ah,  are  you  there  ?   Listen, 

Martha,  you  must  look  to  your  dress  a  little.  And  tell 
Betty  to  do  the  same.  I  don't  want  anything  gorgeous, 
you  know  ;  just  homely  neatness.  But  you  must  be 
quick. 

Lona.  And  you  must  look  pleased  and  happy,  Martha  ; 
no  tears  in  your  eyes. 

Bernick.  Olaf  must  come  down  too.  I  will  have  him 
at  my  side. 

Lona.  H'm,  Olaf 

Martha.  I'll  tell  Betty.  (She  goes  out  by  the  furthest 
back  door  to  the  left.) 

Lona.  Well,  so  the  great  and  solemn  hour  has  come. 

Bernick  (goes  restlessly  up  and  doivn).  Yes,  it  has 
come. 

Lona.  At  such  a  time  a  man  must  feel  proud  and 
happy,  I  should  think. 

Bernick  (looks  at  her).  H'm. 

Lona.  The  whole  town  is  to  be  illuminated,  I  hear. 

Bernick.  Yes,  I  believe  there's  some  such  idea. 

Lona.  All  the  clubs  will  turn  out  with  their  banners* 
Your  name  will  shine  in  letters  of  fire.  To-night  it 
will  be  telegi-aphed  to  all  comers  of  the  country  : — 
•'  Surrounded  by  his  happy  family,  Consul  Bernick  re- 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  105 

ceived  the  homage  of  his  fellow-citizens  as  one  of  the 
pillars  of  society." 

Bernick.  So  it  will  ;  and  they  will  hurrah  outside,  and 
the  people  will  call  me  forward  into  the  doorway  there, 
and  I  shall  have  to  bow  and  thank  them. 

LoN.\.  Have  to ? 

Bernick.  Do  you  think  I  feel  happy  at  such  a  time  ? 

LoNA.  No,  I  do  not  think  that  you  can  feel  thoroughly 
happy. 

Bernick.  Lona,  you  despise  me. 

LoNA.  Not  yet. 

Bernick.  And  you  have  no  right  to.  Not  to  despise 
me  ! — Lona,  you  cannot  conceive  how  unspeakably  alone 
I  stand  here  in  this  narrow,  stunted  society — how  I 
have  had,  year  by  year,  to  suppress  my  longing  for  a  full 
and  satisfying  life-work.  "What  are  my  achievements, 
manifold  as  they  seem  ?  Scrap-work — odds  and  ends. 
But  for  other  work  or  greater  work  there  is  no  room 
here.  If  I  tried  to  go  a  step  in  advance  of  the  views 
and  ideas  which  happened  to  be  those  of  the  day,  all  my 
power  was  gone.  Do  you  know  what  we  are,  we,  who 
are  reckoned  the  pillars  of  society  ?  We  are  the  tools 
of  society,  neither  more  nor  less. 

Lona.   Why  do  3'ou  only  see  this  now  ? 

Bernick.  Because  I  have  been  thinking  much  lately — 
since  you  came  home — and  most  of  all  this  evening.  Oh, 
Lona,  why  did  I  not  know  you  to  the  core,  then,  in  the 
old  days  ? 

Lona.  What  then  ? 

Bernick.  I  should  never  have  given  you  up  ;  and,  if  I 
had  had  you,  I  should  not  have  stood  where  I  stand 
now. 


106  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

LoNA.  And  do  you  never  think  what  she  might  have 
been  to  you,  she,  whom  you  chose  in  my  stead  ? 

Bernick.  I  know,  at  any  rate,  that  she  has  been  to  me 
nothing  of  what  I  required. 

LoNA.  Because  you  have  never  shared  your  Hfe-work 
with  her ;  because  you  have  never  placed  her  in  a  free 
and  true  relation  to  you  ;  because  you  have  allowed  her 
to  go  on  pining  under  the  weight  of  shame  you  cast 
upon  those  nearest  her. 

Beenick.  Yes,  yes,  yes  ;  it  all  comes  of  the  lie  and  the 
pretence. 

LoNA.  Then,  why  do  you  not  break  with  all  this  lying 
and  pretence. 

Beenick.  Now  ?     Now  it  is  too  late,  Lona. 

LoNA.  Karsten,  tell  me — what  satisfaction  does  this 
show  and  deception  give  you. 

Beenick.  It  gives  me  none.  I  must  sink  along  with 
the  whole  of  this  bungled  social  system.  But  a  new 
generation  will  grow  up  after  us  ;  it  is  my  son  I  am 
working  for  ;  it  is  for  him  that  I  am  preparing  a  life- 
task.  There  will  come  a  time  when  truth  shall  spread 
through  the  life  of  our  society,  and  upon  it  he  shall  found 
a  happier  life  than  his  father's. 

Lona.  With  a  lie  for  its  ground-work  ?  Keflect  what 
it  is  you  are  giving  your  son  for  an  inheritance. 

Bernick  {with  suppressed  despair).  I  am  giving  him 
a  thousand  times  worse  inheritance  than  you  know 
of.     But,  sooner  or   later,  the  curse  must  pass  away. 

And  yet — and  yet {Breaking  off .)  How  could  you 

bring  all  this  upon  my  head  !  But  it  is  done  now.  I 
must  go  on  now.  You  shall  not  succeed  in  crushing 
me ! 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  107 

HiToMAR  ToNNESEN,  With   ail  Open  note  in  his  hand,  and 
much  discomposed,  enters  quickly  from  the  right. 

HiLMAR.   Why,  this  is Betty,  Betty  ! 

Beknick.  What  uow  ?     Are  they  coming  already  ? 

HiLMAE.  No,  no  ;  but  I  naust  speak  to  someone  at 
once.     {Jle  goes  out  by  the  furthest  back  door  on  the  left.) 

LoNA,  Karsten,  you  say  we  came  to  crush  you.  Then 
let  me  tell  you  what  stuff  he  is  made  of,  this  prodi- 
gal son  whom  your  moral  society  shrinks  from  as  if  he 
were  plague-struck.  He  has  nothing  more  to  do  with 
you,  for  he  has  gone  away. 

Berxick.  But  he  is  coming  back 

LoNA.  Johan  will  never  come  back.  He  has  gone  for 
ever,  and  Diua  has  gone  with  him. 

Beknick.  Gone  for  ever?     And  Dina  gone  with  him? 

LoNA.  Yes,  to  be   his  wife.     That  is  how  these  two 

strike  your  virtuous  society  in  the  face,  as  I  once 

No  matter ! 

Bernick.   Gone  ! — she  too  ! — in  the  Indian  Girl  ? 

LoNA.  No,  he  dared  not  trust  such  a  precious  freight 
to  that  rotten  old  tub.  Johan  and  Dina  have  gone  in 
the  Palm  Tree. 

Bernick.  Ah  !     And  so — in  vain (Rushes  to  the 

door  of  his  office,  tears  it  open,  and  calls  in.)  Krap,  stop 
the  Indian  Girl  ;  she  mustn't  sail  to-night. 

Krap  (inside).  The  Indian  Girl  is  already  standing  out 
to  sea.  Consul. 

Bernick  (shuts  the  door,  and  sa^JS  feebly).  Too  late— 
and  all  for  nothing. 

LoNA.  What  do  you  mean  ? 

Bernick.  Nothing,  nothing.      Leave  me I 


108  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETF. 

LoNA.  H'm.  Listen,  Karsten.  Johan  told  me  to  tell 
you  that  he  leaves  in  my  hands  the  good  name  he  once 
lent  to  you,  and  also  that  which  you  stole  from  hiin  while 
he  was  far  away.  Johan  will  be  silent ;  and  I  can  do  or 
let  alone  in  this  matter,  as  I  will.  See,  I  hold  in  my 
hand  your  two  letters. 

Bernick.  You  have  them  !  And  now — now  you  will — 
this  very  night — perhaps  when  the  procession 

LoNA.  I  did  not  come  here  to  betray  you,  but  to  make 
you  speak  out  of  your  own  accord.  I  have  failed.  Re- 
main standing  in  the  lie.  See  ;  I  tear  yoiir  two  letters 
to  pieces.  Take  the  pieces  ;  here  they  are.  Now,  there 
is  nothing  to  bear  witness  against  you,  Karsten.  Now 
you  are  safe  ;  be  happy  too — ^if  you  can. 

Bernick  {deeply  moved).  Lona,  why  did  you  not  do 
this  before  ?  It  is  too  late  now  ;  my  whole  life  is  ruined 
now  ;  I  cannot  live  after  to-day. 

LoNA.  What  has  happened  ? 

Bernick.  Do  not  ask  me.  And  yet  I  must  live !  I  vrill 
live — for  Olaf's  sake.  He  shall  restore  all  and  expiate 
all 

LoNA.  Karsten ! 

HiLMAB  ToNNESEN  enters  again  rapidly. 

HiLMAR.  No  one  to  be  found ;  all  away  ;  not  even 
Betty ! 

BER^acK.  What  is  the  matter  with  you  ? 

HiLMAR.  I  dare  not  tell  you. 

Bernick.  What  is  it  ?     You  must  and  shall  tell  me  ! 

HiLMAR,  Well,  then,  Olaf  has  run  away  in  the  Indian 
Girl. 


TEE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  109 

Bebnick  {staggering  backward).  Olaf — in  the  Indian 
Girl  !    No,  no  ! 

LoNA.  Yes,  he  has  !  Now  I  understand  ;  I  saw  him 
jump  out  of  the  window. 

Bernick  [at  the  door  of  his  room,  calls  out  in  despair). 
Krap,  stop  the  Indian  Girl  at  any  cost ! 

Krap  {comes  m  the  room.)  Impossible,  Consul.  How 
can  you  think  that 

Bernick. ^We  must  stop  it !     Olaf  is  on  board  ! 

Krap.  What  do  you  say  ? 

RuMMEL  {enters from  the  office).  Olaf  run  away?  Im- 
possible ! 

Sandstad  {enters  from  the  office).  He  will  be  sent 
back  with  the  pilot.  Consul. 

Hllmar.  No,  no  ;  he  has  written  to  me  {showing  the 
letter) ;  he  says  he  is  going  to  hide  among  the  cargo 
until  they  are  fairly  out  to  sea. 

Bernick.   I  shall  never  see  him  again  ! 

RuMMEL.  Oh,  nonsense  ;  a  good  strong  ship,  newly 
repaired 

ViGELAND  (io/io  has  also  come  in).  And  in  your  own 
yard,  too.  Consul. 

Bernick,  I  shall  never  see  him  again,  I  tell  you.  I 
have  lost  him  ;  Lona  and — I  see  it  now — he  has  never 
been  really  mine.     {Listens.)     What  is  that  ? 

RuMMEL.  Music.     The  procession  is  coming. 

Bernick.  I  cannot,  I  will  not  receive  anyone. 

RuMMEL.  What  are  you  thinking  of  ?  It  is  impossi- 
ble  

Sandstad.  Impossible,  Consul ;  think  how  much  is  at 
stake  for  yourself. 


110  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Bernick.  What  does  it  all  matter  to  me  now  ?  Whom 
have  I  now  to  work  for  ^ 

RuMMEL,  Can  you  ask  ?  You  have  us  and  the  com- 
munity. 

ViGELAND.  Yes,  that  is  very  true. 

Sandstad.  And  surely,  Consul,  you  do  not  forget  that 
we 

Martha  enters  by  the  farthest  hack  door  on  the  left.     Low 
music  is  heard  far  down  the  street; 

Martha.  Here  comes  the  procession  ;  but  Betty  is 
not  at  home ;  I  can't  understand  where  she 

Bernick.  Not  at  home  !  There,  you  see,  Lona  ;  no 
support  either  in  joy  or  sorrow. 

EuMMEL.  Up  with  the  blinds.  Come  and  help  me, 
Ml-.  Krap  !  You  too,  Sandstad  !  What  a  terrible  pity 
that  the  family  should  be  disunited  just  at  this  moment ; 
quite  against  the  programme.  (The  blinds  are  drawn 
iqy  from  the  door  and  windows.  The  ivhole  street  is  seen 
to  be  illuminated.  On  the  house  opposite  is  a  large  trans- 
parency with  the  inscription,  "Long live  Karsten  Bernick, 
the  Pillar  of  our  Society  !  ") 

Bernick  [shrinking  back).  Away  with  all  this  !  I  will 
not  look  at  it !     Out  with  it,  out  with  it ! 

RuMMEL.  Are  you  in  your  senses,  may  I  ask  ? 

Martha.   What  is  the  matter  with  him,  Lona  ? 

LoNA.  Hush  !     [Wiispei'S  to  her.) 

Bernick.  Away  with  the  mocking  words,  I  say  !  Do 
you  not  see  all  these  lights  are  gibing  at  us  ? 

RuMMEL.  Well,  I  must  say 

Bernick.   Oh,  you  know  nothing- !     But  I,  I ! 

All  these  are  the  lights  iu  a  dead-room  ! 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  Ill 

Krap.  H'm? 

EuMMEL.  Well,  but  really,  now — you  make  far  too 
much  of  it. 

Sandstad.  The  boy  will  have  a  trip  over  the  Atlantic, 
and  then  you'll  have  him  back  again. 

ViGELAND.  Only  put  your  trust  in  the  Almighty, 
Consul. 

RuMMEL.  And  in  the  ship,  Bernick  ;  it'll  weather  the 
storm  safe  enough, 

Krap.  H'm  ! 

RuMMEL.  Why,  if  it  were  one  of  these  coffin  ships  we 
hear  of  in  the  great  communities 

Bernick.  I  can  feel  my  very  hair  growing  gray. 

Mrs.  Bernick,   with  a  large  shaivl  over  her  head,  comes 
through  the  garden  door. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Karsten,  Karsten,  do  you  know ? 


Bernick.  Yes,  I  know ;  but  you — you  who  can  see 

nothing — you  who  haven't  a  mother's  care  for  him ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Oh,  listen  to  me ! 

Bernick.  Why  did  you  not  watch  over  him  ?  Now  I 
have  lost  him.     Give  me  him  back  again,  if  you  can  ! 

]Mrs.  Bernick.  I  can,  I  can  ;  I  have  got  him  ! 

Bernick.  You  have  got  him  ! 

The  Men.  Ah  ! 

Hilmar.  Ah,  I  thought  so. 

Martha.  Now  you  have  him  again,  Karsten ! 

LoNA.  Yes  ;  and  now  win  him  as  well ! 

Bernick.  You  have  got  him  !  Is  it  true  what  you  say  ? 
Where  is  he  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  I  shall  not  tell  you  until  you  have  for- 
given him. 


112  THE  PILLARS   OF  SOCIETY. 

Bernick.  Oh,   forgiven,  forgiven !     But  how  did 

you  come  to  know ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Do  you  think  a  mother  does  not 
see?      I   was   in    mortal   terror   lest    you  should    find 

it  out.     A  few  words  he  let   fall   yesterday ;   and 

his  room  being  empty,  and  his  knapsack  and  clothes 
gone 

Bernick.  Yes,  yes ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  I  ran  ;  I  got  hold  of  Aune  ;  we  went 
out  in  his  sailing-boat  ;  the  American  ship  was  on  the 
point  of  sailing.  Thank  Heaven,  we  arrived  in  time — 
we  got  on  board — we  looked  in  the  hold — and  we  found 
him.     Oh,  Karsten,  you  must  not  punish  him  ! 

Bernick.  Betty  ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Nor  Aune  either ! 

Bernick.  Aune  ?  What  do  you  know  of  him  ?  Is  the 
Indian  Girl  under  sail  again  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  No,  that  is  just  the  thing 

Bernick.  Speak,  speak  ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Aune  was  as  much  alarmed  as  I ;  the 
search  took  some  time,  the  darkness  increased,  and  the 
pilot  made  objections  ;  and  so  Aune  ventured — in  your 
name 

Bernick.  Well? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  To  stop  the  ship  till  to-morrow. 

Krap.  H'm 

Bernick.  Oh,  what  unspeakable  happiness ! 

Mrs.  Bernick.  You  are  not  angry? 

Bernick.   Oh,  what  surpassing  happiness,  Betty  ! 

RuMMEL.  Why,  you're  absurdly  nervous. 

HiLMAR.  Yes  ;  whenever  there's  a  question  of  a  little 
struggle  with  the  elements,  then — ugh  ! 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  113 

Kr.vp  {at  the  window).  The  processiou  is  coming 
through  the  garden  gate,  Consul. 

Bernick.  Yes,  now  let  them  come  ! 

RuMMEL,  The  whole  garden  is  full  of  people. 

Sandst.vd.  The  ver}'  street  is  full. 

RuMMEL.  The  whole  town  has  turned  out,  Bernick. 
Tiiis  is  really  an  inspix'iug  moment. 

ViGELAND.  Let  us  take  it  in  a  humble  spirit,  Rum- 
mel. 

RuMMEL.  All  the  banners  are  out.  What  a  procession  ! 
Ah,  here  is  the  committee,  with  Rector  Rorlund  at  its 
head. 

Bernick.  Let  them  come,  I  say  ! 

RuMMEL.  But  listen  ;  in  your  excited  state  of  mind 

Bernick.  What,  then  ? 

RuMMEL.  Why,  I  should  not  mind  speaking  for  you, 

Bernick.  No,  thank  you ;  to-night  I  shall  speak  myself. 

RuMMEL.  Do  you  know,  then,  what  you  have  got  to 
say  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  don't  be  alarmed,  Rummel — now  I 
Rnow  what  I  have  to  say.  {The  music  has  meamohile 
ceased.  The  garden  door  is  thrown  open.  Rector  Rorlund 
enters  at  tJie  head  of  the  Committee,  accompanied  bij  two 
porters,  carrying  a  covered  basket.  After  them  come  tomns- 
people  of  all  classes,  as  many  as  the  room,  will  hold.  An 
immense  crowd,  with  banners  and  flags,  can  be  seen  out  in 
the  garden,  and  in  the  street.) 

Rorlund.  Consul  Bemick !  I  see  from  the  surprise 
depicted  in  your  countenance,  that  it  is  as  unexpected 
guests  we  force  ourselves  upon  you  in  your  happy  fam- 
ily-circle, at  your  peaceful  hearth,  surrounded  by  up- 
right   and    public-spirited   friends  and   fellow-citizens. 


114  THE  PILLAUS  OP  80CIE2  7. 

But  it  is  iu  obedience  to  a  heartfelt  impulse  that  we 
bring  you  our  homage.  It  is  not  the  first  time  we  have 
done  so,  but  it  is  the  first  time  we  have  greeted  you  thus 
publicly  and  unanimously.  We  have  often  expressed  to 
you  our  gratitude  for  the  broad  moral  foundation  upon 
which  you  have,  so  to  speak,  built  up  our  society.  This 
time  we  chiefly  hail  in  you  the  clear-sighted,  indefati- 
gable, unselfish,  nay,  self-sacrificing  citizen,  who  has 
taken  the  initiative  in  an  undertaking  which,  we  are 
credibly  assured,  will  give  a  powerful  impetus  to  the 
temporal  prosperity  and  well-being  of  the  community. 

Voices  {among  the  crowd).  Bravo,  bravo  ! 

EoRLUND.  Consul  Bernick,  you  have  for  many  years 
stood  before  our  town  as  a  shining  example.  I  do  not 
speak  of  your  exemplary  domestic  life,  your  spotless 
moral  record.  Such  things  should  be  left  to  the  closet, 
not  proclaimed  from  the  housetops !  But  I  speak  of  your 
activity  as  a  citizen,  as  it  lies  open  to  the  eyes  of  all. 
Well-appointed  ships  sail  from  your  wharves,  and  show 
our  flag  iu  the  most  distant  seas.  A  numerous  and 
happy  body  of  workmen  looks  up  to  you  as  to  a  father. 
By  calling  into  existence  new  branches  of  industry,  you 
have  laid  a  foundation  for  the  welfare  of  hundreds  of 
families.  In  other  words — you  are  in  an  eminent  sense 
the  pillar  and  corner-stone  of  this  community. 

Voices.  Hear,  hear  !  Bravo  ! 

RoRLUND.  And  it  is  just  this  light  of  disinterestedness 
shining  over  all  your  actions  that  is  so  unspeakably  be- 
neficent, especially  in  these  times.  You  are  now  on  the 
point  of  procuring  for  us — I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  the 
word  plainly  and  prosaically — a  railway. 

Many  Voices.  Bravo  !  bravo  ! 


THE  PrLLAR8  OF  SOCIKTY.  115 

RoRLUND.  But  it  seems  as  though  this  undertaking 
were  destined  to  meet  with  difficulties,  principally  aris- 
ing from  narrow  and  selfish  interests. 

Voices.  Hear,  hear  !  Hear,  hear  ! 

RoRLUND,  It  is  no  longer  unknown  that  certain  indi- 
viduals, not  belonging  to  our  community,  have  been 
beforehand  with  the  enei'getic  citizens  of  this  place,  and 
have  obtained  possession  of  certain  advantages,  which 
should  by  rights  have  fallen  to  the  share  of  our  own 
town. 

Voices.  Yes,  yes  !  Hear,  hear  ! 

RoRLUND,  This  deplorable  fact  has,  of  course,  come  to 
your  knowledge  as  well,  Consul  Bernick.  But,  never- 
theless, you  continue  steadil}'  to  pursue  your  undertak- 
ing, well  knowing  that  a  patriotic  citizen  must  not  be 
exclusively  concerned  with  the  interests  of  his  own 
parish. 

Different  Voices.  H'm  !  No,  no  !  Yes,  yes ! 

RoRLtJND.  We  have  assembled,  then,  this  evening,  to 
do  homage,  in  your  person,  to  the  ideal  citizen — the 
model  of  all  the  civic  virtues.  May  your  undertaking 
contribute  to  the  true  and  lasting  welfare  of  this  com- 
munity !  The  railway  is,  no  doubt,  an  institution  which 
lays  us  open  to  the  importation  of  elements  of  evil  from 
without,  but  it  is  also  an  institution  that  helps  us  to  get 
quickly  rid  of  them.  From  elements  of  evil  fi'om  with- 
out we  cannot  even  now  keep  ourselves  quite  free.  But 
that  we  have  just  on  this  festal  evening,  as  I  hear,  hap- 
pily and  more  quickly  than  was  expected,  got  rid  of  cer- 
tain elements  of  this  nature 

Voices,  Hush,  hush ! 

RoRLUND.  This  I  accept  as  a  good  omen  for  the  under- 


116  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

taking.  That  I  touch  upon  this  point  here  shows  that 
we  know  ourselves  to  be  in  a  house  where  family  ties  are 
subordinated  to  the  ethical  ideal. 

Voices.  Hear,  hear  !     Bravo  ! 

Bernick  {at  the  same  time).  Permit  me 

RoRLUND.  Only  a  few  words  more,  Consul  Bernick. 
What  you  have  done  for  this  community  has  certainly 
not  been  done  in  the  expectation  of  any  tangible  reward. 
But  you  cannot  reject  a  slight  token  of  your  grateful 
fellow-citizens'  appreciation,  least  of  all  on  this  moment- 
ous occasion,  when,  according  to  the  assurances  of 
practical  men,  we  are  standing  on  the  threshold  of  a  new 
time. 

Many  Voices.  Bravo  !  Hear,  hear !  Hear,  hear  !  [He 
gives  the  j^orters  a  sign  ;  they  bring  forward  the  basket  ; 
members  of  the  Committee  take  out  and  present,  during 
the  following  speech,  the  articles  mentioned.) 

RoRLUND.  Therefore,  I  have  now,  Consul  Bernick,  to 
hand  you  a  silver  coffee  service.  Let  it  grace  your  board 
when  we  in  future,  as  so  often  in  the  past,  have  the 
pleasure  of  meeting  under  this  hospitable  roof.  And  you, 
too,  gentlemen,  who  have  so  actively  co-operated  with 
the  first  man  of  our  community,  we  would  beg  to  accept 
a  little  remembrance.  This  silver  goblet  is  for  you,  Mr. 
Hummel.  You  have  many  a  time,  amid  the  ring  of 
wine-cups,  done  battle  in  eloquent  words  for  the  civic 
interests  of  this  community  ;  may  you  often  find  worthy 
opportunities  to  lift  and  drain  this  goblet.  To  you,  Mr. 
Sandstad,  I  hand  this  album,  with  photographs  of  your 
fellow-citizens.  Your  well-known  and  much-appreciated 
philanthropy  has  placed  you  in  the  happy  position  of 
counting  among  your  friends  members  of  all  parties  in 


TUE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  117 

the  community.  And  to  you,  Mr.  Vigelantl,  I  have  to 
oflfer,  for  the  decoration  of  your  domestic  sanctum,  this 
book  of  family  devotion,  on  vellum,  and  luxuriously 
bound.  Under  the  ripening  influence  of  years,  you  have 
attained  to  an  earnest  view  of  life  ;  your  activity  in  the 
daily  affiiirs  of  this  world  has  for  a  long  series  of  3'ears 
been  purified  and  ennobled  by  thoughts  of  things  higher 
and  holier.  [Turnip  toward  the  crowd.)  And  now,  my 
friends,  long  live  Consul  Bernick  and  his  fellow- workers  ! 
Hurrah  for  the  Pillars  of  Society  ! 

TuE  "Whole  Crowd.  Long  live  Consul  Bernick  !  Long 
live  the  Pillars  of  Society  !     Hurrah  !    hurrah  !   hurrah  ! 

LoNA.  I  congratulate  you,  brother-in-law  !  {An  expec- 
tant silence  intervenes.) 

Bernick  [begins  earnestly  and  slowly).  My  fellow-citizens, 
your  spokesman  has  said  that  we  stand  this  evening  on 
the  threshold  of  a  new  time  ;  and  there,  I  hope,  he  was 
right.  But  in  order  that  it  may  be  so,  we  must  bring 
home  to  ourselves  the  truth — the  truth  which  has,  until 
this  evening,  been  utterly  and  in  all  things  banished 
from  our  community.  [Astonishment  among  the  audi- 
ence.) I  must  begin  by  rejecting  the  panegyric  with 
which  you.  Rector  Rorlund,  according  to  use  and  wont 
on  such  occasions,  have  overwhelmed  me.  I  do  not 
deserve  it ;  for  until  to-day  I  have  not  been  disinterested 
in  my  dealings.  If  I  have  not  always  striven  for  pecun- 
iary pi'ofit,  at  least  I  am  now  conscious  that  a  longing 
desire  for  power,  influence,  and  respect  has  been  the 
motive  of  most  of  my  actions. 

RuniMEL  (half  aloud).  What  next  ? 

Bernick.  Before  my  fellow-citizens  I  do  not  reproach 
myself  for  this  ;  for  I  still  believe  that  I  may  place 
16 


1.8  TUE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

myself  ia  the  first  rank  among  men  of  practical  useful- 
ness. 

Many  Voices.  Yes,  yes,  yes  ! 

Beknick.  But  what  I  do  blame  myself  for  is  ray  weak- 
ness in  condescending  to  subterfuges,  because  I  knew 
and  feared  the  tendency  of  our  society  to  suspect  im- 
pure motives  behind  everything  a  man  undertakes. 
And  now  I  come  to  a  case  in  point. 

RuMMEL  {anxiously).   H'm — -h'm  ! 

Beknick.  There  are  rumors  abroad  of  great  sales  of 
property  along  the  projected  line.  This  property  I  have 
bought — all  of  it — I,  alone. 

Suppressed  Voices.  What  does  he  say  ?  The  Consul  ? 
Consul  Bernick  ? 

Bernick.  It  is  for  the  present  in  my  hands.  Of  course, 
I  have  confided  in  my  fellow-workers,  Messrs.  Rummel, 
Vigeland,  and  Sandstad,  and  we  have  agreed  to 

Rummel.  It  is  npt  true  !  Prove  ! — prove ! 

Vigeland.  We  have  not  agreed  to  anything ! 

Sandstad.  Well,  I  must  say 

Bernick.  Quite  right ;  we  have  not  yet  agreed  on  what 
I  was  about  to  mention.  But  I  am  quite  sure  that  these 
three  gentlemen  will  acquiesce  when  I  say  that  I  have 
this  evening  determined  to  form  a  joint-stock  company 
for  the  exploitation  of  these  lands  ;  whoever  will  can 
have  shares  in  it. 

Many  Voices.  Hurrah  !     Long  live  Consul  Bernick  ! 

Rummel  (aside  to  Bernick).  Such  mean  treachery ! 

Sandstad  (likemse).  Then  you  have  been  fooling 
us ! 

Vigeland.  Why  then,  devil  take— — !  Oh,  Lord, 
what  am  I  saying? 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  H'J) 

The  Crowd  {outside).  Hurrah,  hurrah,  hurrah  ! 

Bernick.  Silence,  gentlemen.  I  have  no  right  to  this 
homage  ;  for  what  I  have  now  determined  was  not  my 
first  intention.  My  intention  was  to  retain  the  whole  my- 
self ;  and  I  am  still  of  opinion  that  the  pi'operty  can  be 
most  profitably  worked,  if  it  remains  in  the  control  of 
one  man.  But  it  is  for  you  to  choose.  If  you  wish  it,  I 
am  willing  to  manage  it  for  you  to  the  best  of  my  ability. 

Voices.  Yes,  yes,  yes ! 

Bernick.  But,  first,  my  fellow-citizens  must  know  me 
to  the  core.  Then  let  everyone  examine  himself,  and  let 
us  realize  the  prediction,  that  from  this  evening  we 
begin  a  new  time.  The  old,  with  its  tinsel,  its  hy- 
pocrisy, its  hollowness,  its  lying  propriety,  and  its  pitiful 
cowardice,  shall  lie  behind  us  like  a  museum,  open  for 
instruction  ;  and  to  this  museum  we  shall  present — shall 
we  not,  gentlemen  ? — the  coffee-service,  and  the  goblet, 
and  the  album,  and  the  family  devotions  on  vellum  and 
luxuriously  bound. 

RuMMEL.  Yes,  of  course. 

ViaELAND  [mutters).  If  you  have  taken  all  the  rest, 
why 

Saxdstad.  As  you  please. 

Bernick.  And  now  to  make  my  settlement  with  so- 
ciety. It  has  been  said  that  elements  of  evil  have  left 
us  this  evening.  I  can  add  what  you  do  not  know  ;  the 
man  thus  alluded  to  did  not  go  alone  ;  with  him  went, 
to  become  his  wife 

LoNA  (loudly).  Dina  Dorf  ! 

RoRLUND.  What  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  What  do  you  say  ?  (There  is  great  ex- 
citement.) 


120  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

EoRLUND.  Fled  ?    Run  away — with  him  ?    Impossible ! 

Bernick.  To  become  his  wife,  Rector  Rorluud.  And 
I  have  more  to  add.  i^Ande.)  Betty,  collect  yourself, 
to  bear  what  is  coming.  {Aloud.)  I  say,  let  us  bow  be- 
fore that  man,  for  he  has  nobly  taken  another's  sin  up- 
on himself.  My  fellow-citizens,  I  will  come  out  of  the 
lie  ;  it  had  almost  poisoned  every  fibre  in  my  being. 
You  shall  know  all.  Fifteen  years  ago  /  was  the  guilty 
one. 

Mes.  Bernick  {in  a  low  and  trembling  voice).  Karsten  !• 

Martha  (likewise).   Oh,  Johan ! 

LoNA.  Now  at  last  you  have  found  yourself  again. 
[Voiceless  astonishment  among  the  audience.) 

Bernick.  Yes,  my  fellow-citizens,  I  was  the  guilty  one, 
and  he  fled.  The  false  and  vile  rumors  which  were 
afterward  spread  abroad  it  is  now  in  no  human  power  to 
disprove.  But  I  cannot  complain  of  this.  Fifteen  years 
ago  I  swung  myself  aloft  upon  these  rumors  ;  whether  I 
am  now  to  fall  with  them  is  for  you  to  decide. 

RoRLUND.  What  a  thunderbolt  !  The  first  man  in  the 
town  !  [Aside  to  Mrs.  Bernick.)  Oh,  how  I  pity  you, 
Mrs.  Bernick  ! 

HiLMAR.  Such  a  confession  !     Well,  I  must  say ■ 

Bernick.  But  do  not  decide  this  evening.  I  ask  every- 
one to  go  home — to  collect  himself — to  look  into  him- 
self. When  your  minds  are  calm  again,  it  will  be  seen 
whether  I  have  lost  or  won  by  speaking  out.  Good- 
night !  I  have  still  much,  very  much,  to  repent  of,  but 
that  concerns  only  my  own  conscience.  Good-night  ! 
Away  with  all  this  show  !  We  all  feel  that  it  is  out  of 
place  here. 

RoRLUND.  Certainly   it   is.     [Aside  to  Mrs.   Bernick.) 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETT.  121 

Run  away!  Then  she  was  unwortliy  of  me,  after  all. 
[Half  aloud,  to  the  Committee.)  Yes,  gentlemen,  after 
this  I  think  we  bad  better  go  away  quietly. 

HiLM.ut.  How,  after  this,  one  is  to  hold  high  the  ban- 
ner of  the  ideal,  I  for  one — Ugh  !  (The  announcement 
has  meanwhile  been  whispered  from  mouth  to  mouth.  All 
the  members  of  the  procession  retire  through  the  garden. 
RuMMEL,  Sandst.u),  and  Vioeland  go  off  disputing  earnesl- 
ly  but  softlg.  Consul  Bernick,  Mrs.  Bernick,  M.\rtha, 
LoxA,  and  Krap  alone  remain  in  the  room.  There  is  a 
short  silence.) 

Bernick.  Betty,  can  you  forgive  me  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick  {looks  smilingly  at  him).  Do  you  know, 
Karsten,  you  have  opened  to  me  the  brightest  hope  I 
have  had  for  many  years  ? 

Bernick.   How  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  For  many  years  I  have  believed  that 
you  had  once  been  mine,  and  I  had  lost  you.  Now  I 
know  that  you  never  were  mine  ;  but  I  shall  win  you. 

Bernick  (embracing  her).  Oh,  Betty,  you  have  won  me. 
Through  Lona  I  have  at  last  learned  to  know  yoU  aright. 
But  now  let  Olaf  come. 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Yes,  now  you  shall  have  him.  Mr. 
Krap — — !  (She  whispers  to  him  in  the  background. 
He  goes  out  by  the  garden  door.  During  the  following  all 
the  transparencies  and  lights  in  the  houses  are  put  out  one 
by  one.) 

Bernick  (softly).  Thanks,  Lona  ;  you  have  saved  what 
is  best  in  me — and  for  me. 

Lona.  What  else  did  I  intend  ? 

Bernick.  Yes,  what — what  did  you  intend  ?  I  cannot 
fathom  you. 


122                 THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 
LoNA.  H'm 


Bernick.  Then  it  was  not  hatred?  Not  revenge? 
Why  did  you  come  over  ? 

LoNA.  Old  friendship  does  not  rust. 

Bernick.  Lona ! 

LoNA.  When  Johan  told  me  all  that  about  the  lie,  I 
swore  to  myself  :  The  hero  of  my  youth  shall  stand  free 
and  true. 

Bernick.  Oh,  how  little  have  I,  pitiful  creature, 
deserved  this  of  you  ! 

LoNA.  Yes,  if  we  women  always  asked  for  deserts, 
Karsten ! 

AuNE  and  Olaf  enter  from  the  garden. 

Bernick  (rushing  to  him).  Olaf  ! 

Olaf.  Father,  I  promise  never  to  do  it  again. 

Bernick.  To  run  away  ? 

Olaf.  Yes,  yes,  I  promise,  father. 

Bernick.  And  I  promise  that  you  shall  never  have 
reason  to.  Henceforth  you  shall  be  allowed  to  grow  up, 
not  as  the  heir  of  my  life-work,  but  as  one  who  has  a  life- 
work  of  his  own  to  come. 

Olaf.  And  shall  I  be  allowed  to  be  what  I  like  ? 

Bernick.  Whatever  you  like. 

Olaf.  Thank  you,  father.  Then  I  shall  not  be  a  Pillar 
of  Society. 

Bernick.  Oh  !     Why  not  ? 

Olaf.  Oh,  I  think  it  must  be  so  tiresome. 

Bernick.  You  shall  be  yourself,  Olaf  ;  and  the  rest 
may  go  as  it  will.     And  you,  Aune 

Aune.  I  know  it.  Consul ;  I  am  dismissed. 


THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY.  123 

BER>acK.  We  will  remain  together,  Aune  ;  and  forgive 
me 

Aune.   What  ?     The  ship  does  not  sail  to-night  ? 

Bernick.  Nor  yet  to-moiTow.  I  gave  you  too  short 
time.     It  must  be  looked  to  more  thorouglily. 

Aune.  It  shall  be,  Consul,  and  with  the  new  machines ! 

Bernick.  So  be  it.  But  thoroughly  and  uprightly. 
There  are  many  among  us  that  need  thorough  and  up- 
right repairs.     So  good -night,  Aune. 

Aune.  Good-night,  Consul ;  and  thanks,  thanks,  thanks. 

{He  goes  out  to  the  right.) 

Mrs.  Bernick.  Now  they  are  all  gone. 

Bernick.  And  we  are  alone.  My  name  no  longer 
shines  in  the  transparencies ;  all  the  lights  are  put  out 
in  the  windows. 

LoNA.  Would  you  have  them  lighted  again  ? 

Bernick.  Not  for  all  the  world.  Where  have  I  been  ? 
You  will  be  horrified  when  you  know.  Now,  I  feel  as  if 
I  had  just  recovered  my  senses  after  being  poisoned. 
But  I  feel^I  feel  that  I  can  be  young  and  strong  again. 
Oh,  come  nearer — closer  around  me.  Come,  Betty  ! 
Oome,  Olaf !  Come,  Martha  !  Oh,  Martha,  it  seems  as 
though  I  had  never  seen  you  in  all  these  years. 

LoNA.  No,  I  daresay  not ;  your  society  is  a  society  of 
bachelor-souls  ;  you  have  no  eyes  for  Woman. 

Bernick.  True,  true  ;  and  therefore,  of  course,  it  is 
agreed,  Lona — you  will  never  leave  Betty  and  me  ? 

Mrs.  Bernick.  No,  Lona ;  you  must  not ! 

Lona.  No  ;  how  could  I  think  of  going  away  and  leav- 
ing you  young  people,  just  beginning  life  ?  Am  I  not 
your  foster-mother  ?  You  and  I,  Martha,  we  are  the  two 
old  aunts.     What  are  you  looking  at  ? 


124  THE  PILLARS  OF  SOCIETY. 

Martha.  How  the  sky  is  clearing  ;  how  it  grows  light 
over  the  sea.     The  Palm  Tree  has  fortune  with  it 

LoNA.  And  happiness  on  board. 

Bernick.  And  we — we  have  a  long,  earnest  day  of 
work  before  us  ;  I  most  of  all.  But  let  it  come  ;  gather 
close  around  me,  you  true  and  faithful  women.  I  have 
learned  this,  in  these  days  :  it  is  you  women  who  are 
the  Pillars  of  Society. 

LoNA.  Then  you  have  learned  a  poor  wisdom,  brother- 
in-law.  {Lays  her  hand  firmly  upon  his  shoulder.)  No, 
no  ;  the  spirits  of  Truth  and  of  Freedom — these  are  the 
Pillars  of  Society, 


COMEDY  SKETCHES 

By  Julian  Sturgis 

A  collection  of  short  plays  suited  for  amateur  theatricals  or  high-class 
vaudeville,  easy  to  produce  and  of  high  quality.  Recommended  especially 
for  parlor  performance. 

CONTENTS 

Apples.     One  male,  one  female. 
Fire  Flies.     One  male,  one  female. 
Heather.     One  male,  one  female. 
Picking  up  the  Pieces.     One  male,  one  female. 
Half- Way  to  Arcady.     One  male,  one  female. 
Mabel's  Holy  Day.     Two  males,  one  female. 
Twenty  minutes  each. 
Price,  2_5  cents 

IN  OFFICE  HOURS 

And  Other  Sketches 

By  Evelyn  Greenleaf  Sutherland 

CONTENTS 

In  Office  Hours.     Comedy  Sketch  in  One  Act,  five  males,  four 

females. 
A  Quilting  Party  in  the  Thirties.     Outline  Sketch  for  Music, 

six  males,  four  females,  and  chorus. 
In  Aunt  Chloe's  Cabin.     Negro  Comedy  Sketch  in  One  Act, 

seventeen  female  characters  and  "  supers." 
The  Story  of  a  Famous  Wedding.    Outline  Sketch  for  Music 
and  Dancing,  six  males,  four  females. 
Price,  25  cents 

THE  SOUP  TUREEN 

And  Other  Duologues 
A  collection  of  short  plays  for  two  and  three  characters.    Good  quality, 
high  tone  and  confidently  offered  to  the  best  taste. 

CONTENTS 
The  Soup  Tureen.     One  male,  two  females. 
Lelia.     One  male,  one  female. 
The  Unlucky  Star.     Two  males. 
The  Serenade.     Two  females. 

Play  twenty  minutes  each. 
Price,  2^  cents 

HOLIDAY  DIALOGUES  FROM  DICKENS 

Arranged  by  W.  E.  Fette 

Comprising  selections  from  "The   Christmas  Carol,"  "  The  Cricket  on 

the  Hearth,"   "  The   Battle   of  Life,"  etc.,  arranged  in  a  series  of  scenes 

to  be  given  either  singly  or  together,  as  an  extended  entertainment.     For 

the  celebration  of  Christmas  no  better  material  can  be  found. 

Price,  2S  cents 


LOST— A   CHAPERON 

A  Comedy  in  Three  Acts  by  Courtney  Bruerton  and  W,  S.  Maulsby. 
Six  male,  nine  female  characters.  Costumes,  modern ;  scenery,  an  in- 
terior and  an  exterior.  Plays  a  full  evening.  A  lot  of  college  girls  in 
camp  lose  their  chaperon  for  twenty-four  hours,  and  are  provided  by  a 
camp  of  college  boys  across  the  lake  with  plenty  of  excitement.  The  parts 
are  all  good,  the  situations  are  very  funny  and  the  lines  full  of  laughs. 
Recommended  for  high-school  performance.  Price,  2^  cents 

THE  PRIVATE  TUTOR 

A  Farce  in  Three  Acts  by  E.  J.  Whisler.  Five  male,  three  female  char- 
acters. Costumes,  modern  ;  scenery,  two  simple  interiors.  Plays  two  hours. 
Tells  of  the  endeavors  of  two  college  boys  to  disguise  the  fact  that  they  have 
been  "  rusticated  "  from  the  family  of  one  of  them.  Hans  Dinklederfer, 
the  leader  of  a  German  band,  trying  to  make  good  in  the  character  of  a 
private  tutor,  is  a  scream.  All  the  parts  are  good.  A  capital  high-school 
play.  Price,  2^  cents 

THE  REBELLION  OF  MRS.  BARCLAY 

A  Comedy  of  Domestic  Life  in  Two  Acts  by  May  E.  Countryman. 
Three  male,  six  female  characters.  Costumes,  modern;  scenery,  easy 
interiors.  Plays  one  hour  and  three-quarters.  A  clever  and  amusing 
comedy  with  all  the  parts  evenly  good.  There  are  many  Mr.  Barclays  all 
over  this  country,  and  Mrs.  Barclay's  method  of  curing  her  particular  one 
will  be  sympathetically  received.  Good  Irish  comedy  parts,  male  and  fe- 
male.    Strongly  recommended.  Price,  2^  cents 

THE  TRAMPS'  CONVENTION 

An  Entertainment  in  One  Scene  for  Male  Characters  Only  by  Jessie  A. 
Kelley.  Seventeen  male  characters.  Costumes,  typical  tramp  dress ; 
scenery,  unimportant.  Plays  an  hour  and  a  half.  An  entertainment  in 
the  vaudeville  class,  with  possibilities  of  unlimited  fun.  Music  can  be  in- 
troduced, if  desired,  though  this  is  not  necessary.  The  opening  is  very 
funny  and  original  and  the  finish — The  Ananias  Club — can  be  worked  up 
to  any  extent.     Strongly  recommended.  Price,  2^  cents 

THE  DAY  THAT  LINCOLN  DIED 

A  Play  in  One  Act  by  Prescott  Warren  and  Will  Hutchins.  Five  male, 
two  female  characters.  Costumes,  modern  ;  scene,  an  easy  exterior.  Plays 
thirty  minutes.  A  very  effective  play  suited  for  a  Lincoln  Day  entertain- 
ment. It  offers  plenty  of  comedy,  and  is  a  piece  that  we  can  heartily 
recommend.     Professional  stage-rights  reserved.         Price,  2^  cents 

PA'S  NEW  HOUSEKEEPER 

A  Farce  in  One  Act  by  Charles  S.  Bird.  Three  male,  two  female  char- 
acters. Modern  costumes  ;  scenery,  a  simple  interior  or  none  at  all.  Plays 
forty  minutes.  Jack  Brown,  visiting  his  chum,  is  tempted  by  his  success 
in  college  theatricals  to  make  up  in  the  character  of  the  new  housekeeper, 
an  attractive  widow,  who  is  expected  but  does  not  arrive.  He  takes  in 
everybody  and  mixes  things  up  generally.  All  the  parts  are  first  rate  and 
the  piece  full  of  laughs.     Strongly  recommended.  Price,  75  cents 


THE  TIME  OF  HIS  LIFE 

A  Comedy  in  Three  Acts  by  C.  Leona  Dalrymple.  Six  males,  three 
females.  Costumes,  modern  ;  scenery,  two  interiors,  or  can  be  played  in 
one.  Plays  two  hours  and  a  half.  A  side-splitting  piece,  full  of  action 
and  a  sure  success  if  competently  acted.  Tom  Carter's  little  joke  of  "im- 
personating the  colored  butler  has  unexpected  consequences  that  give  him 
"the  time  of  his  life,"  Very  highly  recommended  for  high  school  per^ 
formance.  Price,  2^  cents 

THE  COLLEGE  CHAP 

A  Comedy  Drama  in  Three  Acts  by  Harry  L.  Newton  and  John 
Pierre  Roche.  Eleven  males,  seven  females.  Costumes,  modern  ;  scenery, 
two  interiors.  Plays  two  and  a  half  hours.  An  admirable  play  for  ama- 
teurs. Absolutely  American  in  spirit  and  up  to  date ;  full  of  sympathetic 
interest  but  plenty  of  comedy ;  lots  of  healthy  sentiment,  but  nothing 
"  mushy."  Just  the  thing  for  high  schools  ;  sane,  effective,  and  not  dif- 
ficult. Price,  2_s  cents 

THE  DEACON'S  SECOND  WIFE 

A  Comedy  in  Three  Acts  by  Allan  Abbott.  Six  males,  six  females. 
Costumes,  modern  ;  scenery,  one  interior,  one  exterior.  Plays  two  hours 
and  a  half.  A  play  of  rural  life  specially  written  for  school  performance. 
All  the  parts  are  good  and  of  nearly  equal  opportunity,  and  the  piece  is  full 
of  laughs.  Easy  to  produce  ;  no  awkward  sentimental  scenes ;  can  be 
strongly  recommended  for  high  schools.  Price,  25  cents 

THE  TEASER 

A  Rural  Cbmedy  in  Three  Acts  by  Charles  S.  Allen.  Four  male,  three 
female  characters.  Scene,  an  easy  interior,  the  same  for  all  three  acts; 
costumes,  modern.  Plays  an  hour  and  a  half.  An  admirable  play  for 
amateurs,  very  easy  to  get  up,  and  very  effective.  Uraliah  Higgins,  a 
country  postman,  and  Drusilla  Todd  are  capital  comedy  parts,  introducing 
songs  or  specialties,  if  desired.  Plenty  of  incidental  fun. 
Price,  2j  cents 

COUNTRY  FOLKS 

A  Comedy  Drama  in  Three  Acts  by  Anthony  E.  Wills.  Six  males,  five 
females.  Costumes,  modern;  scenery,  one  interior.  Plays  two  and  a 
quarter  hours.  An  effective  and  up-to-date  play  well  suited  for  amateur 
performance.  All  the  parts  good  and  fairly  even  in  point  of  opportunity ; 
the  ladies'  parts  especially  so.  Easy  to  stage,  and  well  suited  for  schools. 
Well  recommended.  Price,  2^  cents 

THE  MISHAPS  OF  MINERVA 

A  Farce  in  Two  Acts  by  Bertha  Currier  Porter.  Five  males,  eight  fe- 
males. Costumes,  modern ;  scene,  an  interior.  Plays  one  and  a  half 
hours.  An  exceptionally  bright  and  amusing  little  play  of  high  class  and 
recommended  to  all  classes  of  amateur  players.  Full  of  action  and 
laughs,  but  refined.  Irish  low  comedy  part.  Strongly  endorsed. 
Price,  2^  cents 


0' 


THE  VILLAGE  POST-OFFICE 

An  Entertainment  in  One  Scene  by  Jessie  A.  Kelley.  Twenty-two 
males  and  twenty  females  are  called  for,  but  one  person  may  take  several 
parts  and  some  characters  may  be  omitted.  The  stage  is  arranged  as  a 
country  store  and  post-office  in  one.  Costumes  are  rural  and  funny. 
Plays  a  full  evening.  Full  of  "  good  lines  "  and  comical  incident  and 
^character.  Strongly  recommended  for  church  entertainments  or  general 
use  ;  very  wholesome  and  clean.  Frice,  2^  cents 

MISS  FEARLESS  &  CO. 

A  Comedy  in  Three  Acts  by  Belle  Marshall  Locke.  Ten  females. 
Scenery,  two  interiors  ;  costumes,  modern.  Plays  a  full  evening.  A  bright 
and  interesting  play  full  of  action  and  incident.  Can  be  strongly  recom- 
mended. All  the  parts  are  good.  Sarah  Jane  Lovejoy,  Katie  O'Connor 
and  Euphemia  Addison  are  admirable  character  parts,  and  Miss  Alias  and 
Miss  Alibi,  the  "  silent  sisters,"  offer  a  side-splitting  novelty. 
Price,  2J  cents 

LUCIA'S  LOVER 

A  Farce  in  Three  Acts  by  Bertha  Currier  Porter.  Eight  females.  Cos- 
tumes, modern ;  scenery,  two  interiors.  Plays  an  hour  and  a  half.  A 
bright  and  graceful  piece,  light  in  character,  but  sympathetic  and  amusing. 
Six  contrasted  types  of  girls  at  boarding-school  are  shown  in  a  novel  story. 
Lots  of  fun,  but  very  refined.  Easy  to  produce  and  can  be  strongly 
recommended.  Price,  25  cents 

A  GIRL  IN  A  THOUSAND 

A  Comedy  in  Four  Acts  by  Evelyn  Gray  Whiting.  Fourteen  females. 
Costumes,  modern ;  scenes,  three  interiors  and  an  exterior.  Plays  a  full 
evening.  Very  strong  and  sympathetic  and  of  varied  interest.  Irish 
comedy  ;  strong  "  witch  "  character  ;  two  very  lively  "  kids  "  ;  all  the 
parts  good.  Effective,  easy  to  produce,  and  can  be  strongly  recommended 
as  thoroughly  wholesome  in  tone  as  well  as  amusing.         Price,  2J  cents 

MRS.  BRIGGS  OF  THE  POULTRY  YARD 

A  Comedy  in  Three  Acts  by  Evelyn  Gray  Whiting.  Four  males,  seven 
females.  Scene,  an  interior  ;  costumes,  modern.  A  domestic  comedy 
looking  steadfastly  at  the  "  bright  side  "  of  human  affairs.  Mrs.  Briggs  is 
an  admirable  part,  full  of  original  humor  and  quaint  sayings,  and  all  the 
characters  are  full  of  opportunity.  Simply  but  effectively  constructed,  and 
written  with  great  humor.     Plays  two  hours.  Price,  25  cents 

TOMMY'S  WIFE 

A  Farce  in  Three  Acts  by  Marie  J.  Warren.  Three  males,  five  females. 
Costumes,  modern  ;  scenery,  two  interiors.  Plays  an  hour  and  a  half. 
Originally  produced  by  students  of  Wellesley  College.  A  very  original 
and  entertaining  play,  distinguished  by  abundant  humor.  An  unusually 
clever  piece,  strongly  recommended.  Price,  aj  cents 


Tnp  MAfifCrDATp  Farce  In  Three  Acts.  Twelve  males,  four 
lUL  1UAU1J1AA1L<  females.  Costumes,  modem;  scenery,  all 
interior.    Plays  two  hours  and  a  half. 

THE  NOTORIOUS  MRS.  EBBSMITH  ?;?7^  J*^  f^^y  ^f 

ElgLt  males, five  females. 
Costumes,  modem ;  scenery,  all  interiors.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

TIfG  PROFI  IfiATF    ^^^y  in  Four  Acts.  Seven  males,  five  females. 
^  Scenery,  three  interiors,  rather  elaborate  ; 

costumes,  modem.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

THE  SCHOOLMISTRESS  ^^"''^  *°  '^"^^  ^''*'  ^^^  °'^®''  *®'^*° 

females.  Costumes, modem;  scenery, 
three  interiors.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

TBE  SECOND  MRS.  TASQDERAY  S^r  Lfr  ""H 

tumes,  modem ;  scenery,  three  interiors.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

SWFFT  I  AVENRFR  ^*^™^y  ^°  Three  Acts.  Seven  males,  four 
tJnLiiil  UAlhavl<D.  fgnj^igg  Scene,  a  single  Interior;  costumes, 
modem.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

THF  TIMFS    ^<^'"®*^y  ^  Four  Acts.    Six  males,  seven  females. 
Scene,  a  single  interior ;  costuimes,  modern.    Plays  a 
full  evening. 

THF  WFAKFR  SFX    comedy  in  Three  Acta.    Eight  males,  eight 
females.    Costumes,  modern ;  scenery,  two 
Interiors.    Plays  a  full  evening. 

A  WIFE  WITHOUT  A  SMLE  •^^^M^Z^Z^^Z 

moderji ;  scene,  a  single  interior.    Flays  a  full  evening. 


Sent  prepaid  on  receipt  of  price  by 

B^altet:  i^.  'Bafeet:  a  Company 

No.  5  Hamilton  Place,  Boston,  Massachusetts 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

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Sent  prepaid  on  receipt  of  price  by 

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No.  5  Hamilton  Place,  Boston,  Massachusetts 


Ibsen  - 


"■'73  The  pillars  of 
;A6  society 


ilNDDl^'    '      ' 


9  1960 


1158  00615  6o\ 


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